Serial killers Fred and Rose West got away with murder for years – but it may have been a disturbing joke made by their children which finally exposed their horrific crimes
Fred and Rose West murdered at least 12 women and girls, including their own daughter Heather, yet got away with it for more than two decades.
While Fred West is believed to have committed his first murder in 1967, and Rose West in 1971, neither were arrested until 1994 – after police were informed by a child that her friend had been sexually abused in the West household, 25 Cromwell Street, Gloucester.
While the Wests were charged with child sexual offences, the trial did not proceed because key witnesses refused to give evidence at the last minute. However, the five youngest children out of eight were taken into permanent care by social services as authorities were still concerned about the family – particularly the whereabouts of missing eldest daughter Heather.
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And it wasn’t until many years later that it came to light that it could have been a joke made by the West’s children that led to the gravity of their crimes finally being uncovered. It was during an interview with a social worker that one of the children made a brief joke about “Heather being under the patio,” as reported by Gloucestershire police.
In Howard Sounes’ 2019 podcast series, ‘Unheard: The Fred and Rose West Tapes’, he said: “A social worker told the police that one of the children had told them a family joke in the house. They joked that dad had killed Heather and buried her under the garden patio and if the others weren’t careful they would end up there as well.”
It was later revealed that the Wests had physically, emotionally and sexually abused all their children. Both were thought to be obsessed with sex and consistently had extramarital affairs and several of the children West gave birth to were fathered by another man.
But the grim reality was that they murdered Heather when she was only 16, after she was found to have stolen some of her parents’ pornographic magazines. Her parents said she was working at a Devon holiday camp and had gone off with her boyfriend. Her siblings had no idea she really was buried under the patio.
West took his own life after confessing but before the trial. His wife, however, is still alive and serving out her life sentence – although she maintains her innocence to this day. A harrowing new docuseries exploring the grim crimes of Fred and Rose West, two of the most notorious serial killers in British history, is now showing on Netflix.
A Netflix spokesperson said: “Fred and Rose West: A British Horror Story is a definitive documentary series revealing the lives and crimes of Britain’s most notorious and prolific husband and wife serial killers.
“The series features family members of some of the victims – a few of whom are speaking for the first time – giving insight into the pain and torment they went through for decades.
“From discovering that their missing loved ones were brutally murdered, to the trauma they experienced and the strength they displayed during the trial.”
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