Gloucestershire, UK 1967-1987
Fred and Rose West are two of the most notorious British serial killers. They killed for sexual pleasure and their home in Cromwell Street, Gloucester, the “house of horrors”.
FRED WEST’S EARLY YEARS
Fred West was born in Much Marcle, on the Herefordshire-Gloucestershire border, in 1941. His family were farm-workers, at a time when farm-workers were paid shockingly low wages and this part of England was remote.
Fred’s parents were a great contrast: his father was a cruel disciplinarian, but his mother indulged Fred and he became known as a mummy’s boy. Fred was often in trouble, and he struggled at school. So he left at the age of 15 to become a farm labourer.
It is difficult to be certain of all the facts of Fred’s childhood, as he made claims that his brothers disputed. However, Fred claimed his mother committed incest with him when he was 12, that he had sex with animals. He also claimed his father committed incest with his sisters.
Sexual gratification was a lifelong factor in Fred’s behaviour, and as he grew into an older teenager, he got a reputation as a sex pest. The, in 1961, Fred’s sister Kitty (aged 13 at the time) accused Fred of regularly raping her and making her pregnant.
Fred was sent for trial, bit the trial collapsed when Kitty refused to testify. Around the same time, Fred had a serious motorbike accident that left him hospitalised, and a head injury seemed to change his personality as afterwards he was prone to sudden rages.
HIS FIRST MARRIAGE
In 1960 a Scottish woman, Catherine “Rena” Costello, moved to Much Marcle from Glasgow. Fred and she dated for a few months before she returned to Glasgow. But in 1962, she moved back to Much Marcle, pregnant with a child from a fling with an Asian bus driver. She married Fred within a couple of months and they moved to Scotland, where Rena gave birth to Charmaine. The couple told people Charmaine was adopted, because it was obvious she was of mixed heritage. A year later, Rena had a second daughter, Anna Marie.
The marriage was very unstable. Fred was cruel to the children, and had many affairs. He caught Rena with another man, and tried to stab him.
In 1965, Fred accidentally ran over and killed a boy with his ice-cream van. Fearing a backlash, the family moved to Bishop’s Cleeve in Gloucestershire. Fred continued to physically abuse Rena and forced her into prostitution, and started to sexually abuse Charmaine.
Rena eventually returned to Glasgow with her lover, leaving the girls with Fred. Bu this time, Fred had started an affair with Anne McFall, Rena’s friend who had come to England with the couple. McFall became pregnant by Fred.