Fred West’s f inal victim... his son Barry
THE tormented youngest son of serial killers Fred and Rosemary West has been found dead from a suspected overdose.
Barry West, 40, was just seven when he watched his parents beat his sister Heather to death at their home in Gloucester, west of England.
Taken into care five years later, he was too scared to give evidence at his mother’s 1995 trial and was plagued by psychiatric problems his entire life. It is understood he had long battled drug addiction. A family source said: ‘He never found peace, never escaped the ghosts of
Cromwell Street. Of all the Wests’ younger children, Barry had the most difficult life.’
Initially remaining in the
Gloucester area after the trial, Barry later moved to a different part of the country, living under a new identity. He was found dead at a hostel in Kent, southeast England. Because of the backlog of cases due to the pandemic, an inquest is not expected to be held until the new year.
Last night, a member of the West family, who asked not to be named, confirmed that Barry had died ‘some weeks ago’ adding: ‘We heard he had died, but we know no more than that.’
Fred West killed himself in prison in 1995 while awaiting trial on 12 murder charges. His wife was sentenced to life in jail without parole for 10 murders.
The couple killed West’s stepdaughter Charmaine, as well as Heather. Barry’s bedroom had been in the cellar at 25 Cromwell Street, and, as the only other son apart from older brother Stephen, he had been close to his father.