WEBVTT 1 00:00:08.599 --> 00:00:13.359 Cromwell Street, Gloucester, England. An ordinary house in an ordinary street. 2 00:00:14.400 --> 00:00:16.800 Number twenty five was the home of a local builder 3 00:00:16.839 --> 00:00:20.399 and his wife, bustling with children and topped up to 4 00:00:20.440 --> 00:00:24.199 the brim with lodgers. The only thing that distinguished Number 5 00:00:24.199 --> 00:00:26.640 twenty five from the others was the amount of people 6 00:00:26.679 --> 00:00:31.440 that came and went. Fred West liked company. He also 7 00:00:31.600 --> 00:00:35.439 liked to maim, molest and murder. But was this seemingly 8 00:00:35.600 --> 00:00:38.479 ordinary man driven to the slaughter of at least twelve 9 00:00:38.479 --> 00:00:43.240 women and children? Or was Fred West born to kill? 10 00:01:15.680 --> 00:01:19.840 Fred West was described by Richard Ferguson, Prosecuting qc. Of 11 00:01:19.959 --> 00:01:23.959 the trial of Rosemary West as a man devoid of compassion, 12 00:01:24.359 --> 00:01:28.879 consumed with sexual lust, a sadistic killer, and someone who 13 00:01:28.920 --> 00:01:32.280 had opted out of the human race, the very epitome 14 00:01:32.319 --> 00:01:36.840 of evil. But who was Fred West? 15 00:01:45.400 --> 00:01:47.519 If you passed Fred West in the street, you wouldn't 16 00:01:47.560 --> 00:01:50.319 give him a second glance. He had a wife and 17 00:01:50.599 --> 00:01:51.480 had six children. 18 00:01:53.280 --> 00:01:56.159 Fred West was a chameleon. His neighbors would have told 19 00:01:56.200 --> 00:01:59.519 you that he was a very hard working, likable, friendly chap. 20 00:01:59.599 --> 00:02:03.680 On the face of it, was a completely ordinary builder, pandeyman, 21 00:02:04.120 --> 00:02:07.040 a very jovial fellow who got on well with everybody. 22 00:02:11.680 --> 00:02:14.680 He did fit in with the normal flow of life, 23 00:02:14.960 --> 00:02:17.159 even though he was profoundly abnormal. 24 00:02:19.120 --> 00:02:21.960 Many people would be taken in by him because he 25 00:02:22.120 --> 00:02:28.680 was plausible and charming. So the last thing in your 26 00:02:28.759 --> 00:02:32.520 mind is that he might actually harm a terrible evil. 27 00:02:35.400 --> 00:02:38.159 The great mystery of the whole thing is what drove 28 00:02:38.319 --> 00:02:39.280 them to do this. 29 00:02:43.439 --> 00:02:47.039 You're talking about two people who literally plumbed the depths 30 00:02:47.080 --> 00:02:48.319 of human depravity. 31 00:02:49.479 --> 00:02:51.639 Some people have the ambition to, you know, to become 32 00:02:51.680 --> 00:02:54.719 a great politician, to succeed in the world of art. 33 00:02:56.120 --> 00:03:02.280 He had the ambition to succeed in sadistic sexual homicide. 34 00:03:07.400 --> 00:03:10.240 You could put on this act as an amiable row, 35 00:03:10.400 --> 00:03:13.319 but it was only to put up some kind of disguise, 36 00:03:14.000 --> 00:03:16.800 and underneath that look this monster. 37 00:03:19.400 --> 00:03:23.800 Someone may have evil written all over his face, and 38 00:03:23.919 --> 00:03:31.520 yet people miss it. Fred West's evil would be missed 39 00:03:31.520 --> 00:03:32.639 by very many people. 40 00:04:12.240 --> 00:04:15.159 Frederick Stephen West was born on the twenty ninth of 41 00:04:15.199 --> 00:04:18.920 September nineteen forty one in the rural Hereford village of 42 00:04:19.000 --> 00:04:31.600 Much Markel, a tiny agricultural community cut off from metropolitan life. 43 00:04:32.439 --> 00:04:35.759 This rural idyl would be where the young West grew up. 44 00:04:41.319 --> 00:04:45.360 The second of six siblings, Fred was a striking child 45 00:04:45.399 --> 00:04:48.839 with a shock of curly blonde hair and piercing blue eyes. 46 00:04:50.439 --> 00:04:53.279 But how did this blue eyed boy turn into one 47 00:04:53.319 --> 00:04:58.199 of history's most vicious and heenous serial killers? 48 00:05:03.439 --> 00:05:06.439 For Frederick West, this kind of landscape, obviously you can 49 00:05:06.480 --> 00:05:08.480 see a sense of freedom, and he will have had 50 00:05:08.560 --> 00:05:10.920 a lot of freedom, more freedom than most people would 51 00:05:10.959 --> 00:05:13.879 have had. But then again, this kind of landscape is 52 00:05:13.920 --> 00:05:16.439 also very brutal, and what goes with it is the 53 00:05:16.560 --> 00:05:20.279 kind of activities he had, such as clubbing to death rabbits, 54 00:05:20.959 --> 00:05:25.199 to watch his mother shotgunning rats, this kind of like 55 00:05:25.319 --> 00:05:30.920 physical and very kind of harsh environment. 56 00:05:31.600 --> 00:05:35.519 It's widely believed that Fred's father, Walter, was a child abuser, 57 00:05:36.319 --> 00:05:40.519 and he seemed unashamed and unrepentant about his behavior. Fred 58 00:05:40.600 --> 00:05:43.319 was very much the apple of his mother's eye, and 59 00:05:43.399 --> 00:05:46.560 her love could be described as more than overprotective. 60 00:05:47.680 --> 00:05:50.839 Apparently for years they'd been having sort of sexual games together, 61 00:05:50.879 --> 00:05:53.120 and a minute he was capable of doing anything more 62 00:05:53.160 --> 00:05:56.720 than that. She initiated him. He was also abused by 63 00:05:56.720 --> 00:06:00.680 his father. It was a family in which interest was 64 00:06:00.720 --> 00:06:06.199 taken fairly much as normal. He was highly sexualized from 65 00:06:06.240 --> 00:06:09.439 a very young age, and sex became very much part 66 00:06:09.560 --> 00:06:14.000 of his motivation. He would talk constantly about sex. 67 00:06:14.319 --> 00:06:18.199 Fred's school career was short and unproductive. He left school 68 00:06:18.240 --> 00:06:21.920 at fourteen, barely able to read and write. His IQ 69 00:06:22.120 --> 00:06:23.639 was later measured at just eighty. 70 00:06:24.600 --> 00:06:27.160 The problem there obviously lies that lots and lots of 71 00:06:27.199 --> 00:06:29.800 doors are then closed, and the doors that were open 72 00:06:29.879 --> 00:06:35.519 to Fred and his industrious, possibly attention deficit hyperactive traits 73 00:06:36.120 --> 00:06:39.600 would be channeled into things like chasing girls, petty theft, 74 00:06:40.360 --> 00:06:44.879 problematic behavior via little pettiacts of violence, and possibly other 75 00:06:44.920 --> 00:06:46.759 activities that we don't as yet know about. 76 00:06:49.079 --> 00:06:51.519 This would have turned him into a survivor, a lad 77 00:06:51.560 --> 00:06:54.720 that would live off the land, crude, get by as 78 00:06:54.759 --> 00:06:57.600 I can get what I can. That he would be 79 00:06:57.680 --> 00:07:01.519 like a fox, and he didn't need good literature skills 80 00:07:01.560 --> 00:07:03.279 to survive. He could survive on his wits. 81 00:07:03.839 --> 00:07:08.160 Like many young boys, West became fascinated by motorbikes. He 82 00:07:08.279 --> 00:07:11.399 saved hard to buy his first machine, but his pride 83 00:07:11.399 --> 00:07:14.199 and joy was soon to become a nightmare. On the 84 00:07:14.240 --> 00:07:17.920 evening of November twenty eighth, nineteen fifty eight, whilst West 85 00:07:18.000 --> 00:07:21.120 was riding along this road, he collided with a girl 86 00:07:21.199 --> 00:07:26.399 riding in the opposite direction. The precise details of the 87 00:07:26.439 --> 00:07:30.959 accident remain a mystery, but West suffered multiple injuries, including 88 00:07:30.959 --> 00:07:35.040 a serious head wound. He lay unconscious in hospital for 89 00:07:35.120 --> 00:07:35.839 seven days. 90 00:07:36.879 --> 00:07:41.839 Like many unfortunate children, Frederick West did inherit certain brain 91 00:07:41.920 --> 00:07:46.240 abnormalities from his parents, who had problems themselves. This reached 92 00:07:46.279 --> 00:07:49.879 a very much of a crescendo on this very road, 93 00:07:51.560 --> 00:07:54.319 which not only caused great damage to his body and 94 00:07:54.360 --> 00:07:57.839 the shortening of a leg, but delivered a massive amount 95 00:07:57.839 --> 00:08:01.240 of damage to his head and there four to his brain. 96 00:08:01.600 --> 00:08:03.639 And the part of the brain that gets the head 97 00:08:03.680 --> 00:08:09.600 on particular damage is the frontal cortex. Here the frontal lobe, 98 00:08:10.079 --> 00:08:13.800 which contains the elements of what makes us a moral person. 99 00:08:14.120 --> 00:08:16.360 That will give you a sense of revulsion if that 100 00:08:16.519 --> 00:08:21.040 is a particularly horrific act. Now for Fred, these were damaged, 101 00:08:21.120 --> 00:08:25.120 so someone who was already a little bit psychopathic suddenly 102 00:08:25.199 --> 00:08:28.279 had the brakes taken off completely and made him into 103 00:08:28.399 --> 00:08:30.160 a real danger to society. 104 00:08:31.519 --> 00:08:35.519 Fred's recovery was slow and humiliating. His nose was broken, 105 00:08:35.840 --> 00:08:38.519 he walked with a pronounced limp, and now suffered from 106 00:08:38.639 --> 00:08:39.919 violent mood swings. 107 00:08:40.200 --> 00:08:42.240 He did lose a lot of his good looks. There 108 00:08:42.320 --> 00:08:46.039 was damage to his nose and other configurations, and from 109 00:08:46.039 --> 00:08:51.279 being quite a charmer and a crudely good looking lad 110 00:08:51.320 --> 00:08:54.279 in the village, he lost a lot of that edge. 111 00:08:55.519 --> 00:08:58.480 Fred compensated for the loss of his looks by taking 112 00:08:58.480 --> 00:09:01.360 a much more aggressive approach with the local girls. 113 00:09:02.120 --> 00:09:06.000 If Fred wanted sex, he effectively would rape young girls 114 00:09:06.000 --> 00:09:06.759 in that community. 115 00:09:07.399 --> 00:09:09.200 It would have been very much a kind of grab 116 00:09:09.240 --> 00:09:14.080 and grope situation, and he tended then, obviously to use 117 00:09:14.200 --> 00:09:17.320 girls for the only kind of comfort that really ever 118 00:09:17.399 --> 00:09:20.399 existed for Fred in his entire life, and that was 119 00:09:20.519 --> 00:09:21.600 sex and control. 120 00:09:25.440 --> 00:09:29.200 One girl Fred couldn't control was Catherine Costello, better known 121 00:09:29.200 --> 00:09:32.799 as Rena. She was a sixteen year old prostitute who'd 122 00:09:32.799 --> 00:09:36.679 moved to Gloucester from her native Glasgow. Fred married Rena 123 00:09:36.759 --> 00:09:39.799 despite her being five months pregnant with another man's child. 124 00:09:41.360 --> 00:09:44.080 I think Fred saw in Rena certain elements. 125 00:09:43.679 --> 00:09:44.159 Of his mother. 126 00:09:44.240 --> 00:09:47.399 It was a strong person who would control him, and 127 00:09:47.559 --> 00:09:49.720 he was putting his place, if you like, for the 128 00:09:49.759 --> 00:09:52.600 first time probably in his life, by a female. But 129 00:09:52.720 --> 00:09:56.360 I don't think he was ever comfortable with her. He 130 00:09:56.480 --> 00:10:00.559 was never really someone that he could see as a soulmate. 131 00:10:00.679 --> 00:10:03.240 She was really a mother substitute. 132 00:10:04.120 --> 00:10:07.200 Charmaine West was born in the March of nineteen sixty 133 00:10:07.200 --> 00:10:10.360 three and was soon followed by a little sister, Anne Marie. 134 00:10:11.879 --> 00:10:15.120 Childhood for the two little girls was far from traditional. 135 00:10:17.720 --> 00:10:21.519 Rena and he had a very on and off life together. 136 00:10:21.799 --> 00:10:25.120 Sometimes lived were together, sometimes they weren't. Sometimes he had 137 00:10:25.120 --> 00:10:27.919 both the children. Sometimes these children were in foster care. 138 00:10:28.159 --> 00:10:32.639 Occasionally Rena took the children. Mostly if they weren't in care, 139 00:10:32.799 --> 00:10:35.639 they were with Fred. Fred found a succession of young 140 00:10:35.679 --> 00:10:36.840 women to look after them. 141 00:10:36.919 --> 00:10:37.879 It was a very. 142 00:10:39.519 --> 00:10:42.440 Up and down, strange life. 143 00:10:42.639 --> 00:10:47.039 This turbulent relationship finally reached breaking point in nineteen sixty five. 144 00:10:48.000 --> 00:10:51.519 Rena feared for her own safety and fled back to Scotland. 145 00:10:53.559 --> 00:10:55.840 Fred had been happy to let her go, but not 146 00:10:55.919 --> 00:10:59.240 the children, and he'd already recruited sixteen year old Anna 147 00:10:59.320 --> 00:11:01.240 McFall to act as their nanny. 148 00:11:01.600 --> 00:11:05.000 Am McFall and Fred always maintained, in his words, the 149 00:11:05.039 --> 00:11:07.399 love of his life. In fact, when he was in 150 00:11:07.399 --> 00:11:10.559 prison awaiting trial before he committed suicide, he wrote a 151 00:11:10.559 --> 00:11:15.159 great piece of catalog of his relationship with amm Full 152 00:11:16.639 --> 00:11:19.039 which he entitled I Loved an. 153 00:11:18.960 --> 00:11:23.559 Angel, but the angel was soon to fall. When she 154 00:11:23.639 --> 00:11:25.519 became pregnant with West's child. 155 00:11:26.879 --> 00:11:31.600 She became effectively a problem to the bread, an obstruction 156 00:11:31.960 --> 00:11:37.360 who had to be removed. It sounds extraordinarily callous, but 157 00:11:37.799 --> 00:11:40.240 Fred was the kind of man who if a woman 158 00:11:40.279 --> 00:11:44.120 presented a problem, she effectively would be removed from his life. 159 00:11:46.039 --> 00:11:48.960 Anna McFall was last seen in the July of nineteen 160 00:11:49.039 --> 00:11:49.720 sixty seven. 161 00:11:51.240 --> 00:11:54.320 Fred West would have thought that people were disposable, because, 162 00:11:55.440 --> 00:11:58.440 as far as he was concerned, other people were instruments 163 00:11:59.080 --> 00:12:03.240 to be used, so there would be no ethical boundaries. 164 00:12:03.759 --> 00:12:07.320 He decided that he'd had enough of her and that 165 00:12:07.919 --> 00:12:11.919 she was surplustorist requirements, and as cold blood it may seem, 166 00:12:12.240 --> 00:12:14.679 he destroyed her and buried her. 167 00:12:17.120 --> 00:12:20.279 Twenty seven years later, the remains of Anna McFall were 168 00:12:20.279 --> 00:12:23.600 discovered in this field on the outskirts of Fred's home village, 169 00:12:23.799 --> 00:12:28.840 much Markle in Herefordshire. The body had been decapitated and dismembered, 170 00:12:29.320 --> 00:12:32.320 and was found with the skeleton of her unborn child. 171 00:12:33.480 --> 00:12:35.960 He would not have had the same sense of revulsion 172 00:12:35.960 --> 00:12:38.519 that you and I would have had of stripping the 173 00:12:38.559 --> 00:12:42.720 body and deciding how to dispose of it. He would 174 00:12:42.720 --> 00:12:45.159 be very industrious about this, and this would have set 175 00:12:45.240 --> 00:12:49.519 him apart from many many attempted killers and attempted serial killers, 176 00:12:49.799 --> 00:12:52.720 in that he was very energetic, very industrious about the 177 00:12:52.759 --> 00:12:53.879 way he went about things. 178 00:12:55.000 --> 00:12:57.559 Anna McFall had been the last of the victims to 179 00:12:57.600 --> 00:13:01.240 be recovered, but she'd been the first to die. She'd 180 00:13:01.279 --> 00:13:13.639 signaled a turning point in the murderous career of Frederick West. 181 00:13:18.639 --> 00:13:21.639 Fred West was just twelve years old when in November 182 00:13:21.720 --> 00:13:24.559 nineteen fifty three a young girl was born who was 183 00:13:24.600 --> 00:13:27.279 destined to be his partner in life and in death. 184 00:13:28.600 --> 00:13:31.919 The young Rosemary West's childhood was tragically similar to that 185 00:13:32.039 --> 00:13:36.000 of Fred. Her mother, Daisy, suffered from both severe depression 186 00:13:36.360 --> 00:13:39.120 and the attentions of a violent schizophrenic husband. 187 00:13:39.600 --> 00:13:40.840 Her father was very. 188 00:13:40.759 --> 00:13:46.360 Very abusive to his daughters, and the other daughters wouldn't 189 00:13:46.399 --> 00:13:48.480 tolerated and moved out. In fact, I think the mother 190 00:13:48.559 --> 00:13:51.200 moved out at one stage, but from an early age 191 00:13:51.480 --> 00:13:54.919 he would have been having sex with her and she 192 00:13:54.960 --> 00:13:59.639 would be accepting it. The relationship with her father continued 193 00:13:59.679 --> 00:14:05.440 after Fred and Rose got together, and in fact Rose's 194 00:14:05.480 --> 00:14:08.039 father would turn up at Cromwell Street even after Rose 195 00:14:08.080 --> 00:14:10.480 had four children, to have sex with her, and then 196 00:14:10.519 --> 00:14:13.200 Fred would send her into the bedroom with Anne Marie. 197 00:14:17.720 --> 00:14:21.559 When Fred met Rose, he recognized what one might call 198 00:14:21.600 --> 00:14:25.200 a solemad and that's why he was attracted to her. 199 00:14:26.200 --> 00:14:31.879 They are kind of interlocking psychothology and background, so that 200 00:14:32.519 --> 00:14:36.120 they played off each other and they have fantasies and coincided. 201 00:14:36.200 --> 00:14:46.960 Probably Fred and Rose met in the quiet village of 202 00:14:46.960 --> 00:14:51.720 Bishop's Cleve, Gloucestershire, England. Despite the age gap, they soon 203 00:14:51.759 --> 00:14:55.080 started a relationship and it was not long before seventeen 204 00:14:55.120 --> 00:14:58.039 year old Rose was living with Fred and his two children, 205 00:14:58.360 --> 00:15:01.440 Charmaine and Anne Marie, in their new home at twenty 206 00:15:01.480 --> 00:15:02.960 five Midland Road, Gloucester. 207 00:15:04.679 --> 00:15:09.360 That the two girls sexually, probably almost from the off, 208 00:15:09.440 --> 00:15:12.879 really probably saved Rose her life to start off with, 209 00:15:13.000 --> 00:15:20.039 and I think she could have easily become another victim. 210 00:15:20.159 --> 00:15:22.919 She's using him for what she wants, a little perks. 211 00:15:22.919 --> 00:15:25.960 He's driving around in his carn and she's feeling much older. 212 00:15:26.000 --> 00:15:28.080 She can tell her girlfriends at school where it is, 213 00:15:28.120 --> 00:15:31.679 and my boyfriend's older. All the time, learning from Fred, 214 00:15:31.840 --> 00:15:34.200 who was a willing teacher and enjoying every minute of it. 215 00:15:34.519 --> 00:15:36.559 This was the cocktail that was going to start to 216 00:15:36.600 --> 00:15:38.759 put the bomb together that would soon explode. 217 00:15:40.159 --> 00:15:43.440 Rose was soon pregnant and gave birth to Heather Anne 218 00:15:43.480 --> 00:15:47.159 in October nineteen seventy. Motherhood didn't come naturally. 219 00:15:49.759 --> 00:15:53.519 This was very very new to Rows. She's very young. However, 220 00:15:53.879 --> 00:15:56.799 she did like children, but possibly not in the way 221 00:15:57.080 --> 00:16:01.200 that most adults would like children. For Rose, she'd always 222 00:16:01.279 --> 00:16:04.840 had a kind of learning disability and a slight intellectual challenge, 223 00:16:05.279 --> 00:16:07.960 and she found it much easier to sort of deal 224 00:16:08.000 --> 00:16:10.919 with small children, and she didn't like the kind of 225 00:16:10.919 --> 00:16:14.600 conflict of being challenged. So therefore she would treat children 226 00:16:14.639 --> 00:16:17.919 more as kind of dolls toys. They were kind of 227 00:16:17.919 --> 00:16:19.039 still objectified. 228 00:16:21.559 --> 00:16:26.120 I remember asking her whether she have a breastfeed and 229 00:16:26.200 --> 00:16:28.799 she said, oh, no, tips were for fucking not for 230 00:16:29.559 --> 00:16:33.799 you know, breastfeeding children. So you know, there was this 231 00:16:33.879 --> 00:16:36.919 thing that made me wonder about, you know, a mother's milk. 232 00:16:37.240 --> 00:16:39.559 It was something alien to Rose. 233 00:16:40.080 --> 00:16:44.600 Rose was very very strict, disciplinearian for all the West children. 234 00:16:44.720 --> 00:16:48.519 Their upbringing was very very regimented. They were taken off 235 00:16:48.519 --> 00:16:52.279 to school, they were never ever encouraged to make friends 236 00:16:52.320 --> 00:16:58.000 in the community. Rose ruled the West children with an 237 00:16:58.080 --> 00:16:58.679 iron rod. 238 00:17:02.120 --> 00:17:05.400 Tragically, the child that suffered the most was eight year 239 00:17:05.400 --> 00:17:09.000 old Charmain. Sometime in the June of nineteen seventy one, 240 00:17:09.440 --> 00:17:11.319 while Fred West was coming to the end of a 241 00:17:11.400 --> 00:17:15.039 nine month prison sentence for theft, Charmain disappeared. 242 00:17:18.440 --> 00:17:21.519 Once Rose had killed Roman, then she is of course 243 00:17:22.039 --> 00:17:25.960 equally guilty, so she could not claim just to be 244 00:17:26.279 --> 00:17:30.640 an unwilling accomplice. Once she's done that she has to continue. 245 00:17:34.839 --> 00:17:38.400 This was, as it were, a shared experience. It is 246 00:17:38.400 --> 00:17:43.759 incredibly bonding, but in this case bonding in immorality because 247 00:17:43.839 --> 00:17:48.640 having disposed of a problematic, challenging child which might have 248 00:17:48.720 --> 00:17:52.279 disrupted the relationship between Fred and Rose, then as it were, 249 00:17:52.680 --> 00:17:56.279 nothing could be ruled out in terms of eliminating other 250 00:17:56.359 --> 00:17:58.480 factors that could threaten their relationship. 251 00:18:00.079 --> 00:18:03.359 Of these factors was Charmain's real mother, Rena. 252 00:18:03.480 --> 00:18:05.680 She came looking for her child, and that I'm afraid 253 00:18:05.720 --> 00:18:08.880 sealed her fate because she could not find Charmaine was 254 00:18:08.920 --> 00:18:11.440 not there. Charmain was dead. The only solution was to 255 00:18:11.559 --> 00:18:12.119 murder Rena. 256 00:18:13.279 --> 00:18:15.759 Rena was last seen alive in the autumn of nineteen 257 00:18:15.799 --> 00:18:20.240 seventy one. Her dismembered remains were found in letterbox field 258 00:18:20.400 --> 00:18:25.440 in Much Markell Anna McFall already lay next door, degraded 259 00:18:25.559 --> 00:18:28.720 and discarded by West. For Frederick West, this. 260 00:18:28.640 --> 00:18:31.039 Will have been his little playground. This would be an 261 00:18:31.039 --> 00:18:33.279 area he was very familiar with, an area that he 262 00:18:33.319 --> 00:18:36.279 probably played in as a child. And it's an area 263 00:18:36.319 --> 00:18:39.559 that he can find readily. It has practical reasons. It 264 00:18:39.599 --> 00:18:42.400 has a tree, it has a signpost, and it can 265 00:18:42.480 --> 00:18:45.799 be found easily. And he'd want that because he'd want 266 00:18:45.839 --> 00:18:49.599 to be able to control these corpses, even though they 267 00:18:49.640 --> 00:18:52.599 were not alive. He wants access. He wants to feel 268 00:18:52.640 --> 00:18:56.960 that he can actually be part of this area, and 269 00:18:57.000 --> 00:19:00.400 they are part of this area. This is his private yard. 270 00:19:03.839 --> 00:19:06.599 With Rena out of the way, fred was free to 271 00:19:06.680 --> 00:19:11.039 marry and he and Rose cemented their murderous relationship. In 272 00:19:11.119 --> 00:19:18.839 the January of nineteen seventy two. They moved across the 273 00:19:18.920 --> 00:19:22.039 park from Midland Road and into a street that was 274 00:19:22.079 --> 00:19:23.559 set to become infamous. 275 00:19:27.640 --> 00:19:30.480 Twenty five Cromwell Street became the most famous address in 276 00:19:30.519 --> 00:19:34.720 the world, which is bedsit Land. It's inhabited by a 277 00:19:34.799 --> 00:19:39.160 moving population of sort of people who are drifting around, 278 00:19:39.440 --> 00:19:43.079 or they've left home for some reason, or they couldn't 279 00:19:43.119 --> 00:19:47.279 easily be traced, and that was one of the reasons 280 00:19:47.319 --> 00:19:50.119 why Fred remained undetected for so many years. 281 00:19:51.279 --> 00:19:54.960 This anonymous neighborhood provided the perfect cover for the West's 282 00:19:55.079 --> 00:19:59.440 lustful and murderous nature. It was the ideal lair into 283 00:19:59.440 --> 00:20:03.559 which they trapped their prey. Fred and Rose now set 284 00:20:03.559 --> 00:20:04.960 about spinning their web. 285 00:20:05.720 --> 00:20:09.200 Fred on his own was a charmer, and he would 286 00:20:09.279 --> 00:20:12.240 try and chatwagle upon street corners and bus stops or 287 00:20:12.279 --> 00:20:15.759 what have you. But having rows around and having a 288 00:20:15.839 --> 00:20:20.119 vehicle completely puts people at ease. And you can see 289 00:20:20.119 --> 00:20:25.960 that they slowly but surely crafted this into a refined scavenging, 290 00:20:26.279 --> 00:20:31.200 predatory stalking family, a sort of unit that could, as 291 00:20:31.240 --> 00:20:39.720 it were, take people off the streets very, very efficiently. 292 00:20:42.799 --> 00:20:46.759 In November nineteen seventy two, seventeen year old Caroline Owens 293 00:20:47.039 --> 00:20:50.839 was hitchhiking from Tewkesbury to her home in Cinderford. She'd 294 00:20:50.880 --> 00:20:53.519 been on a regular visit to see her boyfriend and 295 00:20:53.640 --> 00:20:56.880 was waiting for her usual lift from a friendly telephone engineer. 296 00:20:57.440 --> 00:20:59.720 It was then that a gray Ford car drew up 297 00:21:00.079 --> 00:21:01.960 and a young couple offered her a lift. 298 00:21:02.720 --> 00:21:03.880 She seemed pretty cheerful. 299 00:21:03.960 --> 00:21:08.160 She said, where are you going to and I said Cinderford, 300 00:21:08.799 --> 00:21:11.359 and she said, we're from Gloucester, but don't worry, we'll 301 00:21:11.440 --> 00:21:15.559 take you all the way back. They started telling me 302 00:21:15.599 --> 00:21:18.160 about their family and asked me if I'd like to 303 00:21:18.160 --> 00:21:19.880 be a nanny because they said they are three little 304 00:21:19.920 --> 00:21:23.359 girls at home. And I was really excited because I'd 305 00:21:23.359 --> 00:21:26.759 always dreamt of being a children's nannia eleven children that, 306 00:21:26.960 --> 00:21:30.519 you know, everything seemed quite romantic and glamorous to me. 307 00:21:30.559 --> 00:21:33.480 I was going to escape my home and going over 308 00:21:33.480 --> 00:21:35.519 with this lovely family, and it was like a big 309 00:21:35.559 --> 00:21:40.279 fairy tale. But then a week and meeting them, I 310 00:21:40.359 --> 00:21:40.839 moved in. 311 00:21:42.000 --> 00:21:45.960 But Caroline's fairytale began to turn into a nightmare when 312 00:21:46.000 --> 00:21:47.920 Fred let slip a shocking revelation. 313 00:21:49.480 --> 00:21:53.319 One day, he turned around and he said that A 314 00:21:53.440 --> 00:21:57.039 Marie had lost her virginity. And I mean she was 315 00:21:57.079 --> 00:21:59.759 a little girl of eight, and I didn't think that 316 00:21:59.799 --> 00:22:02.400 was a funny thing to say. And I just said 317 00:22:02.440 --> 00:22:06.160 to him, quite accusingly, what do you mean, Why are 318 00:22:06.200 --> 00:22:07.480 you saying she's lost virginity? 319 00:22:07.480 --> 00:22:11.880 What's happened to her? And he said, well, she had. 320 00:22:11.799 --> 00:22:15.240 An accident on her pushbike and the saddle came off 321 00:22:15.400 --> 00:22:17.799 and it penetrated her, and she was damaged by that. 322 00:22:18.759 --> 00:22:20.000 I became a bit aware then. 323 00:22:20.640 --> 00:22:23.079 You know, I'd been sexually abused as a child myself, 324 00:22:23.920 --> 00:22:27.279 so it was almost like I could now recognize that 325 00:22:27.319 --> 00:22:32.240 her behavior was probably being beaten up by her stepmother 326 00:22:32.920 --> 00:22:35.480 and being abused maybe by her father. 327 00:22:36.960 --> 00:22:40.440 Events got out of hand when Fred propositioned Caroline. 328 00:22:40.720 --> 00:22:42.799 He said, well, you know, we've got a sex circles, 329 00:22:43.160 --> 00:22:44.799 me and Rose and a few other men. 330 00:22:46.799 --> 00:22:47.880 We'd like you to join it. 331 00:22:48.920 --> 00:22:51.160 And I started getting quite angry because by this time 332 00:22:51.200 --> 00:22:53.240 I got a bit fed up of all the things 333 00:22:53.319 --> 00:22:57.319 used to come out with. And I said, I don't 334 00:22:57.359 --> 00:22:58.799 know what you're on about. Don't want nothing to do 335 00:22:58.880 --> 00:22:59.240 with it. 336 00:22:59.440 --> 00:23:02.880 I discuss did Caroline fled the house, vowing never to return. 337 00:23:03.359 --> 00:23:05.640 A couple of months later, she was standing in her 338 00:23:05.720 --> 00:23:11.400 usual hitchhiking spot when she noticed a familiar car. 339 00:23:12.039 --> 00:23:12.680 My first day. 340 00:23:12.559 --> 00:23:16.839 Instant was to run away, but I didn't, and when 341 00:23:16.839 --> 00:23:22.079 they pulled up besides me, Rose was like apologizing, I'm 342 00:23:22.119 --> 00:23:27.039 sorry that you left and the children are really missing you. 343 00:23:27.480 --> 00:23:28.640 Can we give you a lift down? 344 00:23:28.839 --> 00:23:32.359 And as much as I didn't want to, I felt 345 00:23:32.400 --> 00:23:34.200 like I couldn't be nasty to them, so I got 346 00:23:34.240 --> 00:23:34.880 in the car. 347 00:23:37.799 --> 00:23:40.839 If it was fine. We went just through Gloucester. 348 00:23:42.079 --> 00:23:44.079 Most of it was like the children had missed me 349 00:23:44.119 --> 00:23:47.720 in that kind of conversation. As soon as we got 350 00:23:47.720 --> 00:23:52.000 out of Gloucester, going more towards where I live, Fred 351 00:23:52.039 --> 00:23:54.599 said to me, I had sex tonight, Caroline, and I 352 00:23:54.640 --> 00:23:56.880 went no, And I was kind of like going, oh, 353 00:23:56.920 --> 00:24:01.359 don't start that kind of conversation off again. And he said, 354 00:24:01.400 --> 00:24:03.319 I'll go and have a field Rosy if she's wet, 355 00:24:04.079 --> 00:24:07.000 and with that she just like grubbed around down my crunch. 356 00:24:08.039 --> 00:24:09.480 We started fighting. 357 00:24:11.000 --> 00:24:14.200 About two miles outside of Gloucester, past the round about. 358 00:24:15.559 --> 00:24:18.319 Fred brought his car up on the side and Aunt 359 00:24:18.680 --> 00:24:21.759 rose by turning around in his seat and punching me 360 00:24:21.799 --> 00:24:24.599 inside of the end until I was unconscious. When I 361 00:24:24.640 --> 00:24:27.319 came round Fred at the door open, he was on 362 00:24:27.359 --> 00:24:30.440 his knees. He'd already tied my hands beyond my back 363 00:24:30.440 --> 00:24:34.039 with my scarf, and he was wrapping like parcel tape 364 00:24:34.039 --> 00:24:35.839 all the way round and round and round my face 365 00:24:36.039 --> 00:24:40.319 as a gag. And they turned the car around and 366 00:24:40.359 --> 00:24:43.240 they went back around the roundabout, took me to from 367 00:24:43.240 --> 00:24:43.759 one street. 368 00:24:45.839 --> 00:24:49.720 They eventually arrived at the house. Caroline, still bound and gagged, 369 00:24:50.000 --> 00:24:52.720 was taken into a bedroom For the. 370 00:24:52.640 --> 00:24:53.640 Next twelve hours. 371 00:24:55.200 --> 00:25:00.720 I was beaten. Both of them were like medical examining. 372 00:25:01.400 --> 00:25:03.480 It was almost you know, they were talking about my 373 00:25:04.000 --> 00:25:08.160 genitulia and all that, as if they were doctors. You know, Oh, 374 00:25:08.200 --> 00:25:10.480 this is a bit stranger, that's so, and so. I 375 00:25:10.519 --> 00:25:12.119 thought they were going to get a knife and just 376 00:25:12.160 --> 00:25:15.039 start cutting at me. So I was absolutely terrified. But 377 00:25:15.960 --> 00:25:20.440 he got his bart off his jeans and he'd folded 378 00:25:20.480 --> 00:25:23.759 it over and was whipping between the leg with his bart. 379 00:25:25.920 --> 00:25:29.880 And then she started doing something else sexual towards me 380 00:25:29.920 --> 00:25:32.920 while he watched, And then she invited him to join in, 381 00:25:33.720 --> 00:25:36.440 and she was doing something to me and he was 382 00:25:36.480 --> 00:25:38.799 having sex with her from behind at the same time. 383 00:25:39.119 --> 00:25:41.599 To be quite honest, at that time, I would have 384 00:25:41.640 --> 00:25:43.000 been up y'r off dead. 385 00:25:43.279 --> 00:25:46.440 After a night of harrowing abuse, a terrified Caroline was 386 00:25:46.440 --> 00:25:48.000 eventually left alone with Fred. 387 00:25:48.160 --> 00:25:49.559 I thought he was just going to take me down 388 00:25:49.599 --> 00:25:53.000 to the cellar, but he obviously had second thoughts. He 389 00:25:53.200 --> 00:25:57.559 just raped me and then he started crying. He said 390 00:25:57.559 --> 00:25:59.960 to me, you know a few promise that you won't 391 00:26:00.559 --> 00:26:03.839 I've touched you, he said, and you'll come back here 392 00:26:03.880 --> 00:26:08.680 to live. He said, I'll let you go, of course, 393 00:26:08.720 --> 00:26:10.640 you know, considering I thought it was on my way 394 00:26:10.680 --> 00:26:13.160 down to the cellar, I was just so relieved and 395 00:26:13.240 --> 00:26:14.640 I said, yeah, okay. 396 00:26:14.400 --> 00:26:14.839 I'll do that. 397 00:26:17.559 --> 00:26:20.839 Caroline had a remarkable escape and went straight to the police. 398 00:26:21.599 --> 00:26:24.720 But for Fred and Rose this signaled a significant change 399 00:26:24.920 --> 00:26:26.559 in the balance of their relationship. 400 00:26:26.920 --> 00:26:30.359 I think the escape of Caroline owen owed a lot 401 00:26:30.799 --> 00:26:33.240