Rosemary West Research Paper

Tillman 1

Fred and Rosemary West
Brianna Tillman
Remington College

The infamous Fred and Rosemary West were both interesting people. Their killing techniques were of the chain. In this research I?ll be giving you a little background about their lives before and after the killings. Fred West was born on September 29, 1941, in Much Marcle, England. Establishing a residence in Gloucester, West became one of the most horrific serial killers known to the U.K., with him and future wife?Rose responsible for the dismemberment and murder of women and young girls, including two members of their own family. West was awaiting trial for twelve murders when he hung himself on January 1, 1995. Frederick West was born to Walter and Daisy West

The West marriage became increasingly unstable and Rena returned to Scotland, leaving her children with West and McFall, but she returned some months later to find them living together in a caravan. Early in 1967, McFall became pregnant with West's child, urging him to divorce Rena and marry her instead. West, unwilling to do so, killed the pregnant McFall that July and buried her near the caravan park, cutting off her fingers and toes, a signature mutilation that was to become a common feature in his future crimes. Rena moved into the caravan following McFall's disappearance. Within six months of McFall's death, West was linked to another disappearance, that of 15-year-old Mary Bastholm, who was abducted from a bus stop in Gloucester in January 1968, although only circumstantial evidence has ever been produced to corroborate this. Then in November 1968 he became acquainted with Rose Letts, who was to become his next wife and life-long accomplice.
Rosemary "Rose" Letts was born in Devon on November 29, 1953, the result of a difficult pregnancy, with both of her parents suffering from mental illness. Electro-convulsive therapy, administered to her pregnant mother for deep depression, may have caused prenatal injury that

Rose West went to trial on October 3, 1995, in the glare of media frenzy. Witnesses, including stepdaughter, Anna Marie, testified to her participation in sexual assaults on young women. Her defense counsel tried to argue that evidence of assault was not evidence of murder, but, when Rose testified on her own behalf, her violent nature and dishonesty became clear to the jury, and they unanimously found her guilty on 10 separate counts of murder on November 22, 1995. She received a life sentence, having to serve a minimum of 25 years in jail. Rose West's sentence was later extended to a "whole life order" sentence by the home secretary, effectively removing any possibility of parole. There remains a widespread belief that Fred and Rose West's victims numbered far more than the 12 with which they were charged. Rose West refused to accept her fate and launched appeals in 1996 and 2000, claiming variously that new evidence clearing her had come to light, and then that huge media interest had prevented her from receiving a fair trial. The 1996 appeal was rejected, and she dropped the later one. She remains incarcerated. The Wests' home at 25 Cromwell Street, or the "House of Horrors," as it was dubbed by the media, was razed to the ground in October 1996. In its place is a pathway