More than 30 years after the case exploded into public consciousness, another exploration into the harrowing abuse and murders committed at the hands of Frederick and Rosemary West has made its way on to our screens, this time in the form of Fred and Rose West: A British Horror Story on Netflix.
The three-part documentary recaps the heartbreaking case that gripped the UK in the 90s, and features voice recordings of the pair recorded prior to Fred committing suicide in January 1995 and before Rose’s lifelong prison sentence was delivered in November 1995.
It reflects on how the victims came to be known – two of whom were the Wests’ daughters – following on from children on their street raising the alarm to police officers that the Wests ran an abusive household and that a ‘sister was buried under the patio in their garden’.
Far from a long-running family joke, this sadly turned out to be true. And it wasn’t only Heather West’s body that police would discover in the ‘house of horrors’.
In total, 12 victims were uncovered, with nine bodies found at the Wests’ residence on 25 Cromwell Street, Gloucester, a further two in a field near Herefordshire and a single body found at the couple’s former home on Midland Street, Gloucester. It’s thought there are many others out there, with the total number who perished at the hands of the Wests remaining unknown.
The twelve known victims of Fred and Rose West
Disturbing details and the number of victims aside, the case also drew widespread attention in part owing to the relationship between Fred and Rose, with Fred initially seeming keen to protect his wife from scrutiny the public eye and absorb all blame himself.
Later, it would transpire that Rose wasn’t as innocent as she seemed when it came to not only cruising for vulnerable young female victims, but attacking them too. Ultimately, Rose West was found guilty of ten counts of murder and sentenced to life in prison.
She has always maintained her innocence and attempted to appeal following the verdict.
But, her former lawyer of 12 years, Leo Goatley, tells Cosmopolitan UK, it may still be true that Rose was a victim of Fred herself, as well as a perpetrator. He became involved with the Wests in 1992, after local children playing on Cromwell Street raised the alarm to police that something was amiss in the West household.
Here’s what Goatley has to say on Fred and Rose West now, more than 30 years down the line, and the damning letter he recently wrote to his former client.
How were Fred and Rose West caught?
“Things were initially triggered when children playing on Cromwell Street told the police officer that one of their friends was being abused by their dad, and that resulted in Fred and Rose West being arrested on suspicion of child abuse,” he recalls. “The case really snowballed from there, so that all the younger children in the West family were taken into care.
“Criminal proceedings actually collapsed in 1993 relating to the [alleged] sexual abuse because the children refused to give evidence against their parents, but the police said, ‘Look, we’ve not finished with this’ and they’d ask ‘Well, what’s Heather [West, one of the older children] doing now?’ because Heather wasn’t about. There was no medical record for Heather, no employment record, and then there were rumours, family jokes, about Heather being buried in the garden. The police decided to take this seriously, obtained the warrant in February 1994 and started digging the garden. The rest is history.”
What was Rose West like?
Despite how she’s branded by most as being evil and sadistic, Goatley describes Rose as having been a ‘good client’ and relatively easy to work with. He says Fred didn’t want anything to do with him, however.
“It was a controlling thing, and Rose decided she didn’t want to have the same solicitor as Fred,” the expert recalls. “I think she was almost pleased to have a voice to listen to other than Fred’s. Sometimes she would be withdrawn and she would be careful about what she did say, because I’ve no doubt she had a lot of secrets that she didn’t want to divulge, but obviously she wanted a sympathetic defence.”
A young Rose West with her husband, Fred
Goatley remembers that Rose could also have her “emotional moments, she could be quite shrill and screech”. Usually her venom was directed at Fred, he adds, but also at the police and social services. “Compared with some clients I’d had, because these are immensely emotional times with people are facing very serious offences, I didn’t think she was a bad client at all.”
As for whether or not she ever confessed in private, Goatley says Rose maintained her innocence behind the scenes, too. “I felt that she must have known something, but she said she was innocent of the murder and that was what she was going on trial for.”
Was Rose West a victim herself?
Her culpability is complex, says the solicitor. “She was such a young woman when all this started; she was pregnant at 16. I think Fred groomed her, it would be called grooming now.”
It’s Goatley’s belief that the dark sexual fantasies and violence stemmed from Fred, but as a damaged young woman Rose was drawn in. “She’d already been terribly sexually abused by her father and while she was easily manipulated, she also had a vile, foul temper. I think it’s probably not always understood that these [killings] wouldn’t have happened if it hadn’t been for the weird ideas in Fred’s head. But once they happened, it would have unleashed something in Rose that might have been quite terrible. That’s my own belief.”
Fred also allegedly forced Rose to go out and have sex with other men, which she told her legal team she didn’t always want to do: as a mother with a large family, sometimes she’d have preferred to stay home sewing school uniforms.
“[I think] because Rose was a woman, it was this idea that somehow she was worse [than Fred]. A complete betrayal of humanity and the understanding of the role of a mother,” Goatley theorises, when it comes to the enduring fascination with the case.
“She wasn’t an instigator. All of these weird things wouldn’t have happened, I don’t think, if she’d never have met Fred West. I don’t think she’d have ever got involved in killing, whereas Fred West had already murdered before he met Rose West [he killed Ann McFall who was pregnant with his baby in 1967].”
Did Rose West ever show remorse for her crimes?
Rarely, says the insider into the case, who recalls seeing Rose cry only twice throughout the 12 years of being instructed by her: once when she was arrested for the murder of Heather and a second time when she was being taken down to the cells after being convicted of ten murders.
“I don’t know whether there may have been self pity in that,” Goatley notes. “When she was crying, when she was originally arrested in February 1994 for Heather’s murder, she was also cursing Fred West, saying she wished she had never met that man and this sort of thing.”
Why didn’t Fred West kill Rose West?
One question that many who are familiar with the case have is why didn’t Fred kill Rose too, given she would fit in with his pattern of targeting young and vulnerable women. Why did Rose survive while his other lovers, such as Ann McFall, met an unthinkable end? Goatley suspects it may be because Rose showed herself to be a willing accomplice in Fred’s sick escapades from the start.
What is Rose West’s life like now?
Rose’s time in prison has been up and down, from what Goatley can gather – with her cell even having been lit on fire at one point. She is currently in HM Prison New Hall, West Yorkshire.
“If she wrote to me, it was normally about things happening in the prison where she was,” he says. “They would have these routine cell searches, and she’d have to move all her things out of her cell, which she found very disruptive. Also, the prison regime changes over time. Initially, she was on a wing, and they were all lifers, so they felt fairly settled and had routines. They then brought younger women prisoners in, who were in for 12 months, 18 months, who were pretty wild and were out for fights to show who had the bragging rights, this sort of thing.”
This caused some difficulty, the solicitor shares. “Some people were trying to set fire to Rose’s cell and she had problems in the kitchen. Beyond that, the regime stopped giving classes. She liked to go and do sewing or whatever. It wouldn’t surprise me if she was a model prisoner, but when someone else kicks off, I have no doubt Rose would stand up to them. She wasn’t frightened. I think it’s probably more settled now.”
Fred and Rose West’s former home during demolition after their crimes came to light
It’s a challenging role to represent someone in a case as controversial as the one surrounding the vile acts of Fred and Rose West, and Goatley reveals that he sent Rose a letter years after the guilty verdict was delivered – telling her that even he, as her solicitor, agreed with it. Perhaps not in the sense that Rose physically carried out any murders, but that she was guilty of doing nothing to stop them and playing a part in leading to them happening.
“I did write to her a couple of years ago, maybe three years ago, to say that I concluded that she was clearly guilty, because I hadn’t said you’re guilty,” he says, highlighting that there are varying degrees of guilt. “I was kind of on the fence, I suppose, with that for many years, but I concluded that she was guilty. She must have known what Fred was doing. In some of the cases, because of all the damage in her childhood and abuse, she may have taken a lead in some of the violence. So I did confront her in this letter and say that. I didn’t say all that, I just said ‘I think you’re guilty’. But I didn’t get a reply.”
Goatley is sure that even if Rose denies it, she must know more about Fred’s actions than she lets on. “She’d be doing herself a lot of good and a great service to if she knows anything, to tell the authorities so that there could be closure for other victims.”
Jennifer Savin is Cosmopolitan UK’s multiple award-winning Features Editor, who was crowned Digital Journalist of the Year for her work tackling the issues most important to young women. She regularly covers breaking news, cultural trends, health, the royals and more, using her esteemed connections to access the best experts along the way. She’s grilled everyone from high-profile politicians to A-list celebrities, and has sensitively interviewed hundreds of people about their real life stories. In addition to this, Jennifer is widely known for her own undercover investigations and campaign work, which includes successfully petitioning the government for change around topics like abortion rights and image-based sexual abuse. Jennifer is also a published author, documentary consultant (helping to create BBC’s Deepfake Porn: Could You Be Next?) and a patron for Y.E.S. (a youth services charity). Alongside Cosmopolitan, Jennifer has written for The Times, Women’s Health, ELLE and numerous other publications, appeared on podcasts, and spoken on (and hosted) panels for the Women of the World Festival, the University of Manchester and more. In her spare time, Jennifer is a big fan of lipstick, leopard print and over-ordering at dinner. Follow Jennifer on Instagram, X or LinkedIn.
