Rosemary West

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Rose West

Born	November 29, 1953(1953-11-29) Barnstaple, Devon, England
Penalty	Whole Life Tariff
Status	Imprisoned
Occupation	Housekeeper, Prostitute
Spouse	Fred West
Parents	William Andrew and Daisy Gwendoline Letts
Children	7

Rosemary Pauline West née Letts (born November 29, 1953 in Barnstaple) is an English serial killer, now an inmate at HMP Bronzefield, Ashford, Middlesex after being convicted of 10 murders. Her husband Fred, who committed suicide in prison while awaiting trial, is believed to have collaborated with her in the torture and murder of at least 10 young women^[1], many at the couple's home in Gloucester, England.

Fred West is known to have carried out 12 murders, but Rosemary had no involvement in the first two, as she had not met Fred at the time.

1 Early life and marriage to Fred West
2 Other possible victims
3 Conviction
4 Doubt over guilty verdict
5 Further reading
6 References
7 External links

[edit] Early life and marriage to Fred West

Rose Letts was born in Devon to William Andrew and Daisy Gwendoline Letts, the result of a difficult pregnancy. Her mother suffered from depression and was given Electro-convulsive therapy while pregnant; some have argued that this may have caused prenatal injury to her daughter. Rose grew up a moody teenager and performed poorly at school. She had a slight weight problem in adolescence, but this did not prevent the development of sexual precocity and an interest in older men.

Rose's parents split up when she was a teenager, and her father was prone to violence. She lived with her mother before moving in with her father around the time she met West at the age of 16. Rose's father disapproved of the relationship, threatening to call social services and threatening West directly. However, by 1970, Rose found herself pregnant by West and caring for his daughter Anne-Marie (by his previous marriage to Rena Costello).

Rosemary West and her husband were convicted of sexual assault in January 1973. They were fined for indecent assault of Caroline Roberts, who escaped and reported the couple to the police. The Wests' typical pattern was to pick up girls from bus stops in and around Gloucester and imprison them in their home for several days before killing them.

She had a voracious sexual appetite and enjoyed extreme bondage and sadomasochistic sex. She was bisexual, and many of their victims were picked up for both her and her husband's sexual pleasure.^[2] She also worked as a prostitute. She was frequently pregnant and was the mother of eight children: Heather Anne (October 1970), Mae (June 1972), Stephen Andrew (August 1973), Tara (December 1977), Louise (November 1978), Barry (June 1980), Rosemarie Junior (April 1982) and Lucyanna (July 1983). Five of these were by West: Tara, Rosemarie and Lucyanna were by Indian clients.

It is reported that, even after the birth of her fourth child, Rose's father would still visit her for sex, and would then have sex with West's eldest daughter Anne-Marie.

[edit] Other possible victims

The crimes for which Rosemary West was convicted occurred mainly between April 1973 and August 1978. Charmaine West, (the daughter of Fred's previous wife Rena), murdered in June 1971, was buried at the Wests' previous home of 25 Midland Road, Gloucester. One of the bodies found at Cromwell Street was that of their eldest daughter, Heather, who was murdered in June 1987.

In August 1992 Fred West was arrested after being accused of raping his 13-year-old daughter three times, and Rosemary West was arrested for child cruelty. This case against them collapsed in June 1993 when their daughter refused to testify in court. All of the Wests' children were removed from their custody to foster homes. This case brought to light the disappearance of Heather West in 1987, and triggered the major investigation that followed.

[edit] Conviction

Although she did not confess, the circumstantial evidence against Rosemary West was overwhelming. She went on trial in October 1995, after her husband's suicide; he had hanged himself in Winson Green Prison on 1 January that year. The jury was unanimous: West was found guilty of 10 murders on 22 November 1995, and the judge, Mr Justice Mantell, sentenced her to life imprisonment, saying: "If attention is paid to what I think, you will never be released."

The Lord Chief Justice later decided that she should spend at least 25 years in prison, but in July 1997 Home Secretary Jack Straw subjected West to a whole life tariff. This was only the second instance of a British woman being condemned to die in prison, the other being serial killer Myra Hindley. In the first two years of her sentence, West was held at the same prison as Hindley.

A November 2002 Law Lords' ruling could see West released in 2019, by which time she will be 66 years old.

[edit] Doubt over guilty verdict

A great deal has been written about a possible lack of evidence linking her to the murders at Cromwell Street, and it has been suggested that her conviction seems to be based on little more than the idea that "She Must Have Known" (see Brian Masters' 1996 book). It has also been suggested ^[3] that Rosemary West was really only put on trial at all because the main suspect (Fred West) committed suicide before he could be convicted. Masters asserts that the police had never intended to prosecute her and clearly only did so because of public opinion against her. However, Rose West had been arrested and jointly charged with the murders prior to Fred West's suicide. ^[4]

Rose West's involvement with Fred West in the kidnapping, rape and torture of Caroline Roberts (formerly Owen, formerly Raine) in 1972 (although this "so-called" similar fact evidence has been disputed, as Caroline Roberts was not murdered and it is not therefore a "similar fact")^[5].

Since the trial, Rosemary West's counsel has claimed that there was no direct evidence to link her to the murders. Her counsel also accused the media of having "a malign influence" on her trial. Richard Ferguson, QC, said "other than the sheer horror of the discovery of the remains of the victims, the most striking feature of this case, say the defence, was the dearth of evidence to connect the applicant to these crimes." He said the evidence linking Rosemary West to the deaths of daughter Heather West, her husband's stepdaughter Charmaine West, and Shirley Robinson, a lodger at 25 Cromwell Street, was "tenuous."^{[citation needed]}

The remains of Ann McFall, who disappeared before Fred West met Rosemary, were found dismembered and bound with cord. Ferguson said this showed that Rosemary West had not been involved in killing the seven Cromwell Street victims discovered in similar circumstances.

[edit] Further reading

Bennett, John (2005). The Cromwell Street Murders: The Detective's Story. Sutton Publishing. ISBN 0750942738.
Burn, Gordon (1998). Happy Like Murderers. Faber and Faber (London). ISBN 0571195466.
Masters, Brian (1996). She Must Have Known: Trial of Rosemary West. Doubleday (London). ISBN 0385406509.
Roberts, Caroline (2005). The Lost Girl: How I Triumphed Over Life at the Mercy of Fred and Rose West. Metro Books (London). ISBN 1843580888.
Sounes, Howard (1995). Fred and Rose: The Full Story of Fred and Rose West and the Gloucester House of Horrors. Warner Books (London). ISBN 0751513229.
Wansell, Geoffrey (1996). An Evil Love: The Life of Frederick West. Hodder Headline (London). ISBN 0747217602.
West, Anne Marie (1995). Out of the Shadows: Fred West's Daughter Tells Her Harrowing Story of Survival. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0671719688.
Wilson, Colin (1998). The Corpse Garden. True Crime Library (London). ISBN 1874358249.