Rose drove Fred to kill more girls
TWISTED Rose West was the key to the serial murders she committed with her husband Fred, an ITV documentary will claim this week.
The film by Sir Trevor McDonald will reveal that Rose was “actively involved” in the horrific crimes, in which at least a dozen victims were murdered and buried at the “House of Horrors” – 25 Cromwell Street, Gloucester.
She has always denied her role in the murders, carried out between 1967 and 1987, but the documentary says she was instrumental in kidnapping the victims.
The remains of 12 people were found at the property in 1994 but it is feared there were another 18 victims.
“Rose West was not a bystander,” said Sir Trevor, who will present new evidence in the show. “She was deeply involved. In any normal situation you would think that a wife’s influence would curb Fred’s horrific tendencies but we learn that she was actively involved.
“When they cruised around to pick up people, she was the one who probably convinced the girls to get in the car.
“If a man cruised around then the girls may think twice but her presence was the incentive to these girls that maybe it’s OK.”
He added: “It defies belief and explanation. You just walk away stunned about what you learn.”
The West’s youngest child, Barry, speaks about his parents
POIGNANT: Trevor McDonald
for the first time. He said in 2004, that when he was seven, he heard Rose assaulting his older sister Heather “by stamping on her head five times. Heather didn’t move again”.
Rose West, 65, was convicted of 10 murders and is now serving a whole life tariff in prison. Fred committed suicide on remand, aged 53 in 1995.
Sir Trevor, who visits the razed Cromwell Street site, said: “I was shocked to see that everyone knows what this street is and how relieved they are that the house is no longer there. “It’s now an eerie empty plot where people talk about the dark deeds that went on, in the middle of an everyday street. It’s extraordinary that it took so long to figure out what was going on.” Ex-newsreader Sir Trevor, 79, also met some of the victim’s families. He said: “Juanita Mott was a lodger at the Wests. What was terrible for me was to listen to what the Mott sisters said about what came out in court – about the condition of Juanita’s body. “Appalling, really appalling.
“It may be a silly thing to say because we keep hearing more and more about people doing odd things but to go through in detail what these victims went through at the hands of the Wests is unbelievable and horrible to recount.”
Fred and Rose West: The Real Story with Trevor McDonald ITV, Thursday, 9pm.