Rose West, ‘jail queen’
RACHEL SPENCER SERIAL killer Rose West is “treated like a queen” in prison, a former jail inmate has claimed.
Current Big Brother housemate Simone Reed spent six months behind bars with West after being jailed for affray in 2009.
Simone, 28, served time at HMP Low Newton in Co Durham.
She said: “I remember seeing this lady in the corner of the social room. She was cuffed to a male and female guard and was singing to herself and smiling as she looked out of the window. “I smiled at her and tried to be friendly. The next thing I knew, one of the other girls passed me a note saying she was Rose West. I remember a chill going right through me. I just couldn’t believe it was her, one of the worst killers in the country.”
West is serving life for killing 10 children in Gloucestershire. Her husband Fred killed himself in 1995 shortly before he was due to stand trial accused of 12 murders. Simone added: “Because I worked as a cleaner when I did my time, it meant I could see into her cell. It wasn’t like looking in a prison room though, more like a Laura Ashley showroom. She had duck egg blue floral curtains and bedding, a TV and computer and a laptop. “Rose was treated like a queen in prison and I think that’s totally wrong.
“Her cell was like a five-star hotel room, with a PS3 games console. In my opinion she should have had a mattress on the floor and nothing else after what she did.
“She’d spend most of her time in her cell, and who could blame her when it was a palace?”
Simone said West didn’t just enjoy plush living conditions, she also made sure she didn’t go short of grub.
She added: “She was huge, about 16 stone and she’s only small, about 5ft 4ins, with grey hair and glasses that dug in her fat face. “She had a huge body as all she ate was chips. We’d have them at least once a day with things like chilli con carne and a roast on a Sunday, but she’d still have chips after that. No wonder she got so fat.
“She knows she is totally untouchable. No-one is allowed to speak to her or even approach her and she has two guards by her side round the clock in case she is attacked.”