Between 5 and 8 March, police found six further bodies of young females at 25 Cromwell Street. Each victim had been extensively mutilated, and each body bore evidence of having been subjected to extreme sexual abuse prior to the act of murder. For example, the third set of remains discovered in the cellar was found with a length of cloth wrapped around the skull, and an oval of adhesive tape 16 inches in circumference found with the remains had likely been used to gag this victim, whose ankles and wrists were also bound with a large section of rope. [164] Also found in this grave was a large, serrated knife. The second set of remains was found with a section of tubing twisted into a U-shape alongside her severed limbs, and her skull was found encased in adhesive tape which had been wrapped around the section where her face had been 11 or 12 times, with a narrow plastic tube inserted where the nasal cavities had been in an effort to allow her to breathe prior to her murder. [165] Each set of remains was missing numerous bones, particularly phalanges; when questioned, Fred refused to divulge the whereabouts of the bones missing from each set of remains, or the reason for their absence. [166] Arrest of Rose West [ edit ] At pretrial proceedings in February, Rose pleaded not guilty to ten charges of murder (the murder of Charmaine West having been added to the original nine after Fred's suicide, and two counts of rape and indecent assault of young girls having been dropped with a view for later resubmission), though her counsel conceded that circumstantial evidence indicated Rose's willingness to subject young girls to sadistic physical and sexual abuse. [178] [179] I haven't got you a present, but all I have is my life. I will give it to you, my darling. When you are ready, come to me. I will be waiting for you. She had received minimal training and this was the first time she had been asked to perform the role. She was told only that the person she was to assist was a 52-year-old man with "learning difficulties". Heather also expressed to Mae and Stephen her desire to run away from home and live a nomadic lifestyle in the Forest of Dean, and to never again see any human beings. [134] Murder of Heather West [ edit ]

Hospital records reveal Charmaine had received treatment for a severe puncture wound to her left ankle in the casualty unit of the Gloucester Royal Hospital on 28 March 1971. This incident was explained by Rose to have resulted from a household accident. [64] Murder of Charmaine West [ edit ] Fred is known to have killed at least twelve young women, while Rose is known to have murdered at least nine victims, as well as her eight-year-old step-daughter Charmaine. The murders also highlighted how many young women and girls had gone missing in previous decades. Overall, 110 missing people were found to be safe and well as a result of the West inquiry, according to Gloucestershire Constabulary.c. 20 April: Lynda Gough, (19). The first sexually motivated killing the Wests are known to have committed together. Gough was a lodger at 25 Cromwell Street, and shared sex partners with Rose. Following her disappearance, Gough's mother travelled to Cromwell Street to enquire as to her daughter's whereabouts, and saw Rose wearing her daughter's clothes and slippers. She was informed that Lynda had moved to find work in Weston-super-Mare. Lynda Gough's remains were buried in an inspection pit beneath the garage, which was later converted into a bathroom. [216] The most wonderful thing in my life was when I met you. Our love is special to us. So, love, keep your promises to me. You know what they are. Where we are put together for ever and ever is up to you. We loved Heather, both of us. I would love Charmaine to be with Heather and Rena. Prosecution witnesses included Cromwell Street lodgers; victims' relatives; Rose's mother Daisy and sister Glenys; and surviving victims including Anna Marie West, Kathryn Halliday (a former lover of the Wests), Caroline Owens, and a "Miss A" (who had been sexually assaulted at 14 by Fred and Rose in 1977, and who described Rose as the more aggressive perpetrator of the two). [184] Neighbours described Charmaine's 1971 disappearance while Fred was imprisoned, and Rose's casual indifference to Heather's disappearance. [185] May: Shirley Robinson, (18). Another former lodger at 25 Cromwell Street, Robinson was bisexual and engaged in casual sex with Fred and Rose. At the time of her disappearance, she had been eight months pregnant with Fred's child, and her baby boy had been due to be born on 11 June. No sexual motive existed for this murder, and the prosecution contended at Rose's trial that Robinson had been murdered as her pregnancy threatened the stability of the Wests' relationship. [225] Fred had originally planned to sell their baby to a childless couple and had professional photographs taken with Robinson for this purpose. [226] Rosemary, known as Rose, was convicted on 10 counts of murder in November 1995; she will remain in prison until she dies. She has always protested her innocence and has revealed nothing about the case over the years.

There’s no doubt Fred West was a sadist and a voyeur, and a serial killer, a psychopath with a very warped sexual mind. And Rose West was his willing apprentice,” said Goatley. December: Lucy Partington, (21). Partington was an Exeter University student and the cousin of novelist Martin Amis. [219] She was abducted from a bus stop along the A435. Her precise date of death may have been one week after her disappearance, as Fred admitted himself into the casualty unit of the Gloucester Royal Hospital with a serious laceration of his right hand on 3 January, possibly sustained as he dismembered Partington's body. Her body was discovered in the Cromwell Street cellar on 6 March 1994. [220] [221] Even in the West case, in the trial, where identities were established, it was never entirely clear what fate befell those women and those young girls. It’s known that they were abducted, it’s known that the quality of their lives in their last days would have been appalling … It’s a nightmare trying to speculate about precisely what did happen to those girls.” She lost her appeal against the conviction in 1996 and, the following year, her life sentence was converted to a “whole-life” tariff. He said to me: 'Can you remember helping me dig those holes in the garden when you were a kid?' I said I couldn't remember, but he said, 'We did it together, you know.' Then he said: 'That's where the girls were found, in the exact holes'."

An audio recording was played in court of the police interview in which Fred described how his daughter Heather was killed, dismembered and buried in the garden. “It was just bizarre,” said Summers. “He was very, very matter-of-fact. He could have been talking about burying a dead hamster.” Police sift through soil as they search for clues in the Fred West murder cases in the garden of 25 Midland Road, Gloucester, on April 27, 1994. Barry Batchelor/PA Images/Getty Images

A report commissioned by Gloucestershire County Council into how its agencies served the West children, published in 1995, highlighted the need for teachers, doctors, social workers and police “not to dismiss lightly the comments of children (however apparently bizarre),” and for different bodies to communicate. But at least one newspaper described it as raising more questions than it answered. Over the following 17 months, four further victims between the ages of 15 and 21 suffered a similar fate to that endured by Gough and Cooper, although the disarticulation conducted upon each successive victim, plus the paraphernalia discovered in each shallow grave, suggests each victim was likely subjected to greater abuse and torture than those previously murdered. [115] On March 4, West passed a handwritten note to his solicitor saying: “I wish to admit to a further (approx) nine killings expressly Charmaine, Rena, Lynda Gough and others to be identified.” Fred West was charged with 12 counts of murder, though there have long been suspicions that other young women and girls were abducted, tortured, sexually abused and killed by the Wests. Fred killed himself age 53 before he could stand trial, taking many secrets to his grave.

June: Heather West, (16). Heather was likely to have been murdered because Fred and Rose considered her efforts to leave the household as a threat, as she divulged to her classmates the extensive physical and sexual abuse which occurred at Cromwell Street. [57] Fred claimed he had not intended to kill his daughter, but carpet fibres found on two lengths of rope, discovered with her remains, suggested that she had been restrained and subjected to a sexual assault prior to her murder. Her body was dismembered with a heavy serrated knife and later buried in a hole in the garden which Fred had his son dig, under the pretence of installing a fish pond. [210] The 1994 police investigation into Heather's disappearance led to the discovery of her body, and the arrest of both her parents. Rose occasionally sexually abused Anna Marie herself, and later took extreme gratification in degrading her with acts such as binding Anna Marie to various items of furniture before encouraging Fred to rape her, and forcing her to perform household chores while wearing sexual devices and a mini-skirt. [97] From the age of 13, Fred and Rose forced Anna Marie to prostitute herself within the household, with her clients being informed Anna Marie was 16. Rose was always present in the room when these acts occurred, [98] to ensure Anna Marie did not reveal her true age. [99] On one occasion when Anna Marie was aged 13 or 14, Rose took her to a local pub, insisting she drink several glasses of barley wine. Several hours later, Fred arrived at the pub to collect Rose and Anna Marie. Once they had left the premises, Anna Marie was bundled into her father's van and beaten by Rose, who asked her: "Do you think you could be my friend?" before she was sexually abused by her father and stepmother. [100] Caroline Owens [ edit ] Even Fred occasionally became the recipient of his wife's violence. On one occasion in August 1974, [90] Rose chased after Fred with a carving knife in her hand; Fred was able to slam shut the door of the room into which he had run as Rose lunged at him with the knife, resulting in the knife embedding itself in the door, and three of Rose's fingers sliding down the blade, almost severing them from her hand. In response, Rose calmly wrapped her hand in a towel and said: "Look what you done, fella. You've got to take me to the hospital now." [91] Initial sexual assaults [ edit ] Anna Marie West [ edit ]