A true horror
BACK in 1994, it was the case that shocked the country – in fact, the world – as Fred and Rose West were discovered to have killed a dozen young women and buried their remains at their home.
Their own teenage daughter Heather was one of the victims, buried in the garden of their family home in Cromwell Street in quiet Gloucester, which became known as the House of Horror.
The Wests’ story has been in the news again recently, as police dug up the grounds of a nearby café in the hope of finding the body of another victim and to help give closure to her
Channel 5, 9pm
family. These two featurelength films (the second airing tomorrow) examine just how the couple’s killing spree went undiscovered for so long, and tell the victims’ stories.
It features exclusive interviews with all those close to the investigation at the time, including the police detectives, forensics officers and Fred and Rose’s solicitors, and includes rare archive material, home videos taken by Fred himself, and audio footage from the killers’ police interviews.
There are also interviews with friends of the victims and with survivors and relatives, many of whom have never spoken. This first episode reminds us that in the early days of the investigation it was Fred who was labelled the murderer, while both he and Rose denied she had ever been involved.
It all began when someone questioned the disappearance of their daughter, Heather, but as police began to search the garden, and then the house, at 25 Cromwell Street, victim after victim was discovered, and the police realised they were dealing with an unimaginable horror.