Anne Marie West - Out of the Shadows: Fred Wests daughter tells her harrowing story of survival

O ut Of The Shadows

Fred Wests Daughter Tells Her Harrowing Story Of Survival

By Anne Marie West with Virginia Hill

Killers: Fred and Rose West murdered at least ten people at their home in Cromwell Street, Gloucester, before their arrest in 1994

Author Biographies:

Anne Marie West was born to Fred West and Catherine Costello in 1964. She now lives in Gloucester with her two children.

Virginia Hill has been a journalist with the Daily Star for eleven years. Born in Cardiff she now lives in Wiltshire.

OUT

OF THE

SHADOWS

ANNE MARIE WEST

With Virginia Hill

For my girls Caz and Chell, and in loving memory of my Mother Catherine and sisters Charmaine and Heather.

There is nothing more precious in the world than the feeling of being wanted.

Contents

Chronology of events 1

1 The Nightmare Begins

My Sister Heather

3 My Mothers Family

4 My Fathers Family

5 The Day I Met Rose

6 My Sister Charmaine

7 Raped By My Father

8 Family Life

9 Fred West

10 Rose West

11 My School Years

12 Phil

13 On The Run

14 Marriage

15 Phil

16 Why

17 The Ones That Got Away

18 The Day My Father Dies

19 Funerals

20 Life Now

21 The Trial

22 The Verdict

The victims

29 September 1941: Fred West was born into a , Herefordshire, to Walter Stephen West and Daisy Hannah Hill.

17 November 1962: Fred marries caf waitress Catherine Rena Costello, who has been living in nearby Ledbury but hails from Glasgow.

April May 1967: Anne Mcfall, aged 18, from Glasgow, vanishes. A friend of Catherine Costello she had been working for the West family as a Nanny. She was 8 months pregnant.

March December 1970: Catherine Costello goes missing.

Spring 1970: Fred West meets 15 year old Rosemary Letts and begins a relationship with her, against the wishes of her parents.

March 1971: Charmaine West, Catherine Costellos daughter by another man, disappears from 25 Midland Road, Gloucester, where she had been living with Fred and Rose.

29 January 1972: Fred and Rose marry at Gloucester Register Office.

6 December 1972: Teenager Caroline Owens is kidnapped and subjected to a horrifying sex ordeal by Fred and Rose West. She had previously worked as their Nanny.

12 January 1973: Fred and Rose appear at Gloucester Magistrates Court, charged with assault, causing actual bodily harm, and indecent assault against Caroline Owens. They plead guilty and are fined 50 each.

April 1973: Lynda Gough , aged 19 disappears. She had been living in a flat at the Wests home, 25 Cromwell Street. Rose tells her mother that Lynda has moved to Weston-super-mare.

November 1973: Carol Anne Cooper , aged 15, goes missing from a local childrens home.

27 December 1973 Student Lucy Partington , 21, fails to return after visiting a friend in Cheltenham.

16 April 1974: Twenty one year old Swiss student Therese Siegenthaler sets off to hitch-hike from London to Holyhead for a planned trip to Ireland. She never arrives.

15 November 1974: Shirley Hubbard , aged 15, goes missing on her way to work at Debenhams in Worcester.

11 April 1975: Juanita Mott , 17, does not come home after a night out. She had previously lived at 25 Cromwell Street.

9 May 1978: Shirley Robinson , a lodger living with the Wests at 25 Cromwell Street, vanishes. 19 year old Shirley was 8 months pregnant with Freds child at the time.

September 1979: Alison Chambers , aged 17, fails to turn up for her work experience job and is never seen again. She had been a regular visitor to 25 Cromwell Street.

June 1987: Heather West , the eldest daughter of Fred and Rose, disappears. The couple claim she has run away from home with a lesbian.

June 1993: Fred and Rose West walk free from Gloucester Crown Court after sex charges involving one of their children are dropped. No one in the family is prepared to give evidence against them.

25 February 1994: Fred and rose are arrested by police in connection with the disappearance of their daughter Heather. Fred is held but Rose is released on bail.

26 February 1994: Heathers body is found in the garden of 25 Cromwell Street. Fred is charged with her murder.

28 February 1994: The body of Alison Chambers is discovered in the garden. Four hours later, Shirley Robinson is uncovered.

March 1994: Police began to search the cellar at 25 Cromwell Street. Five more bodies are found over the next few days. Lynda Gough is then discovered under the bathroom.

10 April 1994: The body of Catherine Costello is found in Letterbox Field, Much Marcle.

20 April 1994: Rose West is re-arrested by detectives.

25 April 1994: Rose West is charged with the murder of Lynda Gough.

4 May 1994: Charmaine Wests body is discovered at 25 Midland Road, the familys former home.

6 May 1994: Rose West is jointly charged with her husband on 5 counts of murder.

7 June 1994: After a hole the size of a swimming pool is dug in Fingerpost Field in Much Marcle, the body of Anne McFall is disinterred.

1 January 1995: Fred West hangs himself while on remand at Winson Green Prison, Birmingham.

14 February 1995: Rose West is committed for trial on ten murder charges following a 7 day hearing at Dursley Magistrates Court.

October 1995: The trial of Rose West begins at Winchester Crown Court.

1. The nightmare begins

The doorbell rang at almost the same time as the telephone. I didnt know which to answer first. The phone was in the hallway so I grabbed that, wondering why I was in such demand at 8:00 in the morning. My stepmothers voice exploded in my ear. Her words sent a chill to my heart, even though I could not comprehend their meaning at that moment. I clutched at the receiver, my hand shaking.

If you think anything of me or your Dad, especially your Dad, youll say nothing and keep your mouth shut.

There was no preamble, no greeting, she slammed the phone down, leaving me with a dialling tone. I dithered, but only for a second, because buzzed again, insistently. Smoothing down my hair, I opened the door. The woman standing before me was dressed in plain clothes, but I knew enough people in Gloucester to recognise as WDC Hazel Savage. It wasnt hard to work out that the smartly dressed man beside her was a detective too.

Hazel looked me in the eye in the very direct manner which I later came to realise was her trademark. In her late forties, with around thirty years experience in the force, her very appearance spelled out no nonsense. Her short hair was brushed back from her narrow face; her dark skirt suit as straight and to the point as she was. I expect you know who we are. I suppose youve been warned we would be coming, she said.

yes I know who you are, I replied simply. Come in.

Now the telephone call made sense; the visit a week earlier from my younger sister Mae fell into place. At last someone was going to investigate my father and my stepmother, finally maybe their bizarre sexual crimes and years of abuse of me would finally be revealed. Yet I didnt know then, and could never have imagined, how much more was to be recovered. I knew I was a child of a child-abuser who had been a violent and sadistic woman with an insatiable appetite for sex. It was another 2 years before I found o ut that I was the daughter of a serial killer and the stepdaughter of a woman capable of evil beyond my worst nightmares.