Rose and Fred married in January 1972. West lied and said he was single. Rose became pregnant again, and the couple moved into a council house in Cromwell Street, Gloucester. (They later bought the property from the council, and converted the upper floors into bedsits they rented out).
After Rose gave birth to Mae June, she began to work as a prostitute. The couple also had casual sex with lodgers and friends. Rose’s sexual tastes included violence, choking or inserting large dildos until her victim could not take anymore.
Fred and Rose enjoyed bondage and pain with sex. Rose’s clients included her own father, who had become reconciled to Fred by then.
Rose had 8 children in total, and at least 3 were concerned with clients who were black or Asian. And there was a lot of domestic violence between the Wests, but especially by Rose against the children. And there was sexual abuse too, against Anne Marie (Rena’s other daughter). Fred raped her when she was eight, and Rose also sexually abused her. By the time she was 13, Anne Marie was forced into prostitution herself, with Rose in the room to make sure Anne Marie did not reveal her age.
ABUSE VICTIM – Caroline Owens
In 1972 the Wests picked up a hitchhiker at night. She was 17 year old Caroline Owens. The Wests offered her a job as a part-time nanny. Soon the Wests made sexual advances, and Owens returned to her family.
West knew that Owens hitchhiked, so he decided to abduct and kill her from the roadside at night. On December 6, 1972, they found and abducted Owens. The Wests tied her up and drugged her, then took her to Cromwell Street and sexually assaulted her.
They then locked her in the cellar, and Fred said they would allow other men to abuse her. Fred also said they would allow other men to abuse her and then kill her. But then Fred asked her if she would become the nanny again. Owens agreed, and later that day, she escaped and her mother took her to the police.
The Wests were arrested and sent for trial, but Owens felt unable to testify. So the Wests agreed to plead guilty to lesser charges, were fined and freed.
After this, the Wests started to commit the murders that shocked the country when they were discovered years later.
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