The Horrors of Cromwell Street: Fred and Rose West

Early Life and Troubled Upbringing

If looks can kill, then what can a cold and very public dismissal do? That was the question a husband facing his wife in the British courts would find out in the mid-1990s.
The man himself was Frederick Walter Stephen West, otherwise known as Fred West. He was born on the 29th of September, 1941, on a farm in Herefordshire, England, to parents Walter Stephen West and Daisy Hannah Hill and he was born into a world of extremes.
On one side was his father: a cold and strict disciplinarian. And on the other was his mother: a woman forever changed by the grief of losing other children before she would have Fred. This made her an overly cautious and protective woman and one who would spoil her surviving children.
But Fred had a special place in her heart. He was her favorite child. The apple of her eye. Fred found it easier and more fulfilling to stay at home with her than he did going to school, where he achieved poor grades and had no friends. He actually left school at the age of 15 and by then he was barely literate, and his only future job prospects were working on the family farm.
He was a socially awkward and stifled young man, but when he began going out to clubs with his younger brother John, his true nature would begin to emerge. Fred would often walk up to women and begin groping them, usually without knowing or talking to them beforehand.
He later explained his actions, in a claim that was denied by another of his brothers, that his view towards women, and what was appropriate behavior towards them, had already been shaped and warped by this stage of his life.
And the culprit was none other than his overprotective mother herself.

The Making of a Predator

Fred claimed that his mother had introduced him to sex when he was only twelve years old. He also claimed that watching his very own father rape and molest his daughters led him to believe that his behavior was perfectly normal.
However, we have to take these accounts with a grain of salt. Fred was also known to be a pathological liar, and it’s possible that he created these events in his childhood to justify the unbelievably cruel deeds that were to come further down the line.
We do, however, have hospital records that can substantiate two major events in Fred’s life. The first happened when he was seventeen years old when he was involved in a motorcycle accident. Fred was left with a fractured skull and was unconscious for an entire week.
The second came only two years later when Fred would face the consequences of his actions. While out at a club with his brother John, Fred approached a young woman and grabbed her breast. Appalled, the woman turned around and punched Fred, sending him down two flights of stairs in the process. Fred ended up with another head injury, and his behavior then went from bad to worse.
In a later interview with the police, Fred admitted that since the age of twelve, he’d been regularly engaging in bestiality with the animals on the family farm, but that, unfortunately, wasn’t all that Fred was doing. It was in 1961 that Fred’s thirteen-year-old sister, Kitty, approached their mother with a chilling and startling confession. It turned out that Fred had also been abusing his sister and now she was pregnant.
Fred was then arrested and openly admitted not only to abusing Kitty but to many other young girls in the neighborhood as well. Kitty did, however, eventually drop the charges against her brother, but he was kicked out of the family house all the same.

Fred West’s First Marriage and Family Life

Then, about a year later, Fred would rekindle an old flame. Her name was Catherine Bernadette Costello and she’d been one of the few women who’d actually appreciated Fred’s advances at the clubs. They’d been in a relationship for a few months before Catherine, who’s nickname was Rena, moved back to Scotland. When Rena returned to Fred, she was heavily pregnant with another man’s child, but Fred agreed to take her in and raise the child as his own.
They were quickly married, with Fred’s younger brother John being the only guest at the wedding. They then moved to Glasgow, where Fred and Rena would tell everyone that Rena had suffered a miscarriage. They then claimed to have adopted young baby Charmaine, who was actually Rena’s daughter, but the two felt the need to explain why Charmaine was half Asian in a way that they believed wouldn’t reflect poorly on them. This would only be the beginning of the racial abuse Charmaine would experience from the pair of them for the rest of her life.
Charmaine was followed by another sister a year later. This time Anna Marie was in fact Fred’s biological child, but he treated her exactly the same way he treated poor Charmaine. Using iron bars and a bunk bed, Fred constructed a cage in the girl’s bedroom. They would be forced to stay in there whenever he was home to keep them out of Fred’s way.
He also continued to have long and numerous affairs with multiple women during the course of his marriage with Rena. But when Rena found out, instead of divorcing him, Rena began having an affair of her own with a man named John McLachlan.
This time, when Fred found out about Rena’s affair, things turned violent. Whenever Fred caught Rena with John, or even just suspected that she’d been seeing him, he would beat her. John would often show up at the home to then confront Fred, and an uneasy truce settled between them all.
Fred then moved the family to Gloucester, although it would take Rena a few months to follow him down there. When she did, however, she brought with her two teenage girls named Isa McNeill and Anne McFall. All three women, Fred, and the girls lived together in a small trailer, and Fred quickly began viewing all of the women as his property.

Rosemary Letts: Fred West’s Match

Anne was spared for the moment, but Fred would beat Rena and Isa. He also pressured Rena into becoming a prostitute to keep the family afloat. It’s believed that during this period of time, he also began sexually abusing young Charmaine.
Desperate, Rena then called John McLachlan and begged for help. He immediately agreed to come and get Rena and the girls, but their plans were foiled by Anne McFall. Upon finding out that Rena and Isa were running away, Anne reported them to Fred. He then raced to the meeting spot and told Rena and Isa that they were free to go, but the girls were staying with him.
Reluctantly, Rena agreed, and she left with the warning that if she were to ever return, Fred would kill her.
In July 1967, the then eighteen-year-old Anne was eight months pregnant with Fred’s child when she suddenly and mysteriously disappeared. Only a month later, Rena was officially back in Fred’s life and living in the family trailer again. This new attempt at rekindling their relationship would only last for a year, however, and then Rena left for Glasgow again.
Two years later, Fred approached a young woman sitting alone at a bus stop. Her name was Rosemary Letts and she had only just turned fifteen years old when Fred began making advances towards her. She dismissed him at first. She even at one point believed that he was homeless, but she softened when Fred weaved a story about being a poor widower.
Rose then began spending more time at the West family trailer, and by the time she was only sixteen years old, she was pregnant with Fred’s child. There were, however, rumors that the father of her child was in fact her very own father, who’d been diagnosed as a schizophrenic.
Rose ran away to live with Fred permanently, and shortly after her daughter Heather Ann West was born.
Unlike with his previous relationships, Fred had met his match. Instead of finding herself the victim of Fred’s physical abuse, Rose became his partner. Together they would dole out punishments on the girls, with Rose’s punishments being the most severe. She was even known to turn on Fred and on at least one occasion went after him with a knife.

The Horrors of Cromwell Street

Charmaine was only five years old when she vanished. Fred claimed that Charmaine had been sent away to live with Rena’s mother in Scotland. However, suspicions surrounding Charmaine’s fate would linger for years, as Fred’s criminal behavior only escalated from this point onward.

In 1972, Fred and Rosemary moved into a house at 25 Cromwell Street in Gloucester. The house, often referred to as the "House of Horrors," became the center of Fred's horrific activities. It was here that Fred's sadistic nature fully emerged. He began to lure young women to their home, often using Rosemary as a decoy. They would promise the women a place to stay or offer them work, only for them to disappear without a trace once inside.

The couple's first known victim was a young woman named Anna McFall. In 1973, she disappeared after visiting Cromwell Street. Fred had claimed that she was just another runaway, but in reality, he had murdered her. The couple disposed of her body by burying her in the backyard. This method of disposal would become a pattern, as they continued to commit unspeakable acts against young women.

The Victims

Fred and Rosemary's gruesome catalog of victims continued to grow throughout the 1970s and early 1980s. The women they targeted were often vulnerable, including runaways, sex workers, and young women in need of help. Among the known victims were:

1. Carole Ann Ford – Disappeared in 1971 at age 13.
2. Theresa Sykes – Vanished in 1974 at age 16.
3. Alison Chambers – Last seen in 1979 at age 16.
4. Shirley Hubbard – Disappeared in 1980 at age 15.

Each of these young women suffered horrific fates at the hands of Fred and Rosemary, who would often film their acts of violence. The chilling reality of their crimes came to light when police discovered the disturbing tapes during their investigation.

Arrest and Trial

In 1992, after years of terrorizing and murdering young women, the Wests' reign of horror finally came to an end. After a chance encounter with police regarding their daughter's welfare, authorities began investigating Fred West's activities. The investigation uncovered the horrors that had taken place at 25 Cromwell Street.

Fred was arrested and charged with multiple counts of murder, while Rosemary was also taken into custody. As the investigation progressed, police unearthed several bodies buried in the backyard, confirming the worst fears of the community.

Fred West’s trial began in 1994, but he would never stand in front of a jury. Just days before the trial was set to start, Fred was found dead in his prison cell, having hanged himself. The public was left with a haunting sense of unfinished business, as they would never learn the full extent of his crimes.

Legacy and Aftermath

The legacy of Fred and Rosemary West is one of horror and tragedy. Their crimes left a lasting impact on the families of their victims and the communities they terrorized. The case has become a grim reminder of the potential for evil in everyday life, and the importance of vigilance against such atrocities.

In the years following their deaths, numerous documentaries, books, and films have been produced about their heinous acts. The case continues to fascinate and horrify audiences, serving as a cautionary tale about the dark side of human nature.

Fred West remains one of Britain’s most notorious serial killers, and the horrors that unfolded at 25 Cromwell Street will never be forgotten. The chilling echoes of his crimes remind us to listen to the stories of the victims and to ensure that their memories are honored.