Sunday People

ROSE WEST IS GOING BLIND Serial killer says she’ll kill herself if sight goes

- By Emily Hall Geraldine McKelvie

SERIAL killer Rose West is going blind, according to jail sources.

The monster – serving a whole life term for ten murders – was diagnosed with irreversib­le glaucoma in July.

An insider said: “It’s already affected her sight. She’s wearing her specs all the time. She’s told people she’ll kill herself if she ends up blind. But apart from her vision, she’s fit as an ox.”

West, 64, is said to be distraught over the prospect of losing her cushy lifestyle at HMP Low Newton, near Durham.

Sources claim the child killer has taken up hobbies like baking, yoga and cutting lags’ hair after doing a beauty course behind bars.

Fellow prisoners say she had not worn her trademark glasses for years until her vision deteriorat­ed r ecently but now relies on them to get around highs ecurity F Wing.

Glaucoma sufferers lose vision progressiv­ely because of damage to the optic nerve caused by too much fluid inside the eyes.

Another insider said: “There’s nothing wrong with her body, more’s the pity. But it’s hardly surprising, is it? She’s treated like royalty in here.”

West was caged for life in 1995 for murdering ten young women and girls, including her daughter Heather, 16, and stepdaught­er Charmaine, eight.

She is believed to have tortured and killed many of them with builder husband Fred but he hanged himself in prison before the court case began.

Many of their victims were also sexually abused and eventually buried at their home in Cromwell Street, Gloucester.

Rose West is only the second woman in Britain to be told she will die in jail. The first was late moors murderer Myra Hindley in 1990.

And while some lags hate her, others are said to look up to her.

One jail source said: “She is always very welcoming to new convicts and often befriends some of the harder cases coming into the prison.

“Despite her years in prison, she has always maintained her innocence and encourages others to fight their cases if they also claim they are not guilty.”

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REV-ERED: 700 bikers were in procession on Champs-Elysees, right ICON: Huge crowds for Hallyday in Paris BYE JOHNNY: Coffin at funeral
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IN SPECS: West

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