Killer Rose West ‘could die from mystery illness’
SERIAL killer Rose West is fighting a life- threatening illness, it was claimed yesterday.
West, 63, is said to be ‘very sick’ with a mystery condition at top- security Low Newton jail in County Durham, where she is serving a whole life sentence.
The West Country murderer is being regularly escorted to the prison medical centre and pharmacy for treatment, it is believed. One source said that because of her notoriety, the entire prison ‘locks down’ during these trips over fears she will be attacked.
West has spent 22 years in prison after being convicted of ten murders in 1995.
The insider told a newspaper at the weekend: ‘She’s very ill.
‘Her medical records are closely guarded, and she has a very small circle of staff and fellow inmates in jail, so hardly anyone knows exactly what’s wrong with her.
‘But the rumour is that it’s very serious, and could even finish her off.’
The Ministry of Justice refused to comment on the claims, which come despite West’s supposedly easy life inside.
She has boasted of being happy to die in prison, with fellow inmates accusing her of being treated like a celebrity with fan letters and mail order treats.
West shot to notoriety in 1994 when nine bodies were found at the home she shared with husband Fred.
The victims at the ‘House of Horrors’ on Gloucester’s Cromwell Street included the couple’s daughter Heather, who was killed in June 1987 aged 16. They killed another daughter Charmaine in 1971 and buried her at a previous home in the city.
West was convicted of ten murders in 1995 and sentenced to life in jail. Her husband cheated justice by hanging himself in prison on New Year’s Day in 1995 as he waited to go on trial for 12 murders. Since then West has continued to hit the headlines with her antics behind bars, including a series of rumoured lesbian affairs. One was said to be with Moors Murderer Myra Hindley, who died in 2002.
Separately, Soham double killer Ian Huntley is said to have boasted that he could be free from jail in three years.
The former school caretaker, now 43, received two life terms for the murders of ten-year- olds Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman in 2005. He was sentenced to 40 years but has reportedly said he was ‘reformed’ and believed he should be able to make a bid for freedom in 2020.