Opening up about growing up with her serial killer parents in Gloucester, the 46-year-old said there were "normal" times but revealed as a young child she found her parents "strange.". She moved into Cromwell Street in April 1973, having had affairs with several lodgers. However, later on Fred admitted he had murdered her. 46-year-old Mae West said that she "knew immediately" that her sister Heather was a victim of her depraved parents when the police recovered a femur bone from the family's back garden. And my sons coming up to nine years old and . Its weird. In it, she paints a graphic picture of life at Cromwell Street, which is all the more persuasive for its occasional flashes of normality. GOOD MORNING BRITAIN aired a harrowing interview with Fred and Rose West's daughter. Mae, who is now married, has started to find a peace with her life but will forever be haunted by feelings of guilt that she survived when her beloved sister Heather didnt. She also revealed how her mum stood by as her uncle raped her as a five-year-old with her dad believing it was his parental duty to break in his daughters. Her death will be the next thing (she is 64), and I suppose she might make a deathbed confession. She said: They would lock us in the basement. It had become a burden.". By the time I was 18 I had a good job as secretary to a managing director, a car, a steady boyfriend, Rob, and wed signed for our first mortgage, she recalls. She was eventually murdered by her parents, who told the other kids that she had gone to live with a lesbian lover, but from time to time they would tell the other children if they spoke out or misbehaved they would "end up under the patio like Heather". She received a life sentence, having to serve a minimum of 25 years in jail. Now happily married, Mae, said her young son doesn't know who his grandparents are. 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. "I just hid for eight years.". Fred West was convicted of several gruesome murders and brutal sexual assaults that occurred in England during the 1960s and '70s. Now, over two decades sincethe world learned the truth about the Wests sadistic reign of terror, Mae, 46, a mother to two children herself, has written a book, Love As Always, Mum, where she recounts the terrible story of how she survived her childhood. This, and their changing stories, led to the search warrants for the property, which led to their arrests. We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you've consented to and to improve our understanding of you. "There was a lot normality but then there was the other side that wasn't, we saw terrible things. Anne's mother and two sisters were murdered, but her story unfolds as one of hope and survival. When the children had finished their chores, they were locked in the basement and would play on the large chest in the corner. She said: My daughter did go to a Halloween fancy dress ball and they [other party guests] went as mum and dadthey actually dressed as Fred and Rose West.. The Wests later claimed shed been asked to leave after hitting one of their children. The friend's mother contacted the police who began to investigate Heather's mysterious disappearance. Her sister, Heather, was 16 when her parents murdered her after she tried to escape - then buried her in the garden. As the case against them developed, Rose tried increasingly to distance herself from West, claiming that she was also a victim, but police were not convinced of her innocence given the sheer number of murders which had occurred and her participation in the rapes. Mae and Stephen West, the eldest surviving children of Rosemary and Fred West. She became quite high and mighty in prison, intervening in our lives, claiming my sister Louise wouldnt be a good parent, overlooking the fact that she and Dad had been responsible for violently and sexually abusing her. I did it to protect myself. Traumatised Mae West also revealed how she cut off her mum for not giving "straight answers' about her role in the grisly murders. Thats not to say that they didnt speak about it between them.. Rose has consistently professed her innocence, but the jury at her trial in November that year did not believe her. Its always a problem being part of the West family. ", Fred and Rose West: the Real Story with Trevor McDonald airs on Thursday 31stJanuaryat 9pm on ITV, News Group Newspapers Limited in England No. Get email updates with the day's biggest stories. Neighbour Tracey is said to have found Charmaine tied to a wooden chair with her hands behind a back with Rosemary standing with a large wooden spoon. Tara has said that unlike her siblings, she escaped abuse. Over the next several years, Lynda Gough, Lucy Partington, Juanita Mott, Therese Siegenthaler, Alison Chambers, Shirley Robinson and 15-year-old schoolgirls Carol Ann Cooper and Shirley Hubbard all became victims of the Wests. Glover disputed that there was an engagement and said the media attention over his letters to Rose had cost him his position with the band. She attended the appointment and then met her boyfriend, before somehow ending up on Cromwell Street. Or by navigating to the user icon in the top right. She has a full life: hobbies, gym, sewing, cookery. Rose raised her afterthe murders of her mother and her sister. She also had a weight problem in adolescence and developed an interest in older men. I didnt say: I need help coping with the abuse. I said I wanted my future to be better, and we wrote a list of things I wanted to change. 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. It's comes release as daughter Mae, now 46, has also . Around 30 men marched up a busy street in Sydneys inner west on Friday night chanting the Hail Mary sparked by a joke about Jesus by a queer comedian. It was initially claimed she had moved to Scotland but her body was later found. Her mother, Daisy, moved out of the family home, taking Rose with her. Get in touch with our news team by emailing us atwebnews@metro.co.uk. Frederick West was born to Walter and Daisy West on September 29, 1941, in Much Marcle, a Herefordshire village in England. Barry joined the brood in 1980, with Rosemary Junior following in 1982 and Lucyanna in 1983. He became involved with Rena Costello, a Scottish girl who had a police record for burglary and prostitution. We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we back. I thought he may have brought it up but he hasn't. New heartbreak for Liz Hurley, 57, as third former partner dies: Actor Tom Sizemore, 61, suffers fatal brain 'You'll be missed forever': Elizabeth Hurley and son Damian share heartfelt tribute to her late ex Shane Do not sell or share my personal information. She and West were married in November 1962 and a child was born in March 1963, whom they called Charmaine. Today, her dress is relaxed but modest. When questioned, Rosemary West, herself pregnant with her daughter Tara at the time of the murder, claimed she did not remember her, which was described as ludicrous by the prosecution. My dad needed to know where everything was, so would he have taken that risk in the middle of a busy town? ', "They are criminals and evil and thats what is what Halloween is. I just wish shed tell the truth to the authorities, then wed all know, wouldnt we?. She also attacked Mae with a knife and beat her sister Tara after she threw food on the floor from her high-chair. So profound was the public revulsion towards her, Rose West was dubbed the most evil woman who has ever lived. He was found dead at a hostel in Maidstone, Kent in 2020. 25, where son Stephen was forced to assist with digging the hole. She said: How can they have evidence of a body being there? Last night Gloucestershire Police said it would consider reopening the case if new or compelling evidence emerged. The second of eight children the couple had together, her older sister Heather, 16, and step-sister Charmaine, eight, were among the 11 known victims of Fred West. Raped by her Uncle John Freds brother at the age of five, she was later terrorised by her father, who groped and fondled her, believing it was his parental duty to break in his daughters (take their virginity) when they reached puberty. Mary was last seen at a bus stop in. THE daughter of notorious serial killer couple Fred and Rose West has opened up about life in UKs House of Horrors. All Rights Reserved. He thought they were his property. After brutal sexual attacks, all were murdered, dismembered and buried in the cellar under 25 Cromwell Street. An ITV film crew making a documentary about the serial killer found possible evidence of human remains by using ground-penetrating radar and sniffer dogs. He went on to have three other girls, Heather Ann, Mae June and Louise, with partner-in-crime Rose plus two sons, Stephen and Barry. 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 . Sometimes I feel: Its all right for her. Shes had counselling, shes done a degree in English; every course shes been offered shes said yes to. "Weve all coped in different ways," she said. "It is strange and chilling to think about that game now now that I know there really were horrors under that floor- police found human remains hidden in the house's cellar and under paving slabs in the garden.". Mary, who went missing in 1968, is at the centre of a renewed police hunt, with officers searching a caf linked to West and her serial killer husband Fred. We thought Heather ran away. Police said we were the best officers theyd known wed question mum about things that they had just told us. 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So when she wrote to me from prison her letters arrived every week and said shed try to be a proper mum and tell me whatever I needed to know, I decided to ask her about Heather when I next visited her. I don't know how they managed to do it really.". There remains a widespread belief that Fred and Rose West's victims numbered far more than the 12 with which they were charged. The couple were married in 1972 in Gloucester, against the wishes of Rose's family who were worried about her being with an older man. He is one of eight children who grew up in the house of horrors. Best Known For: Fred West was convicted of several gruesome murders and brutal sexual assaults that occurred in England during the 1960s and '70s. And why would Mum collude in the sexual abuse? Her father objected strongly to their relationship, resorting to contacting social services and threatening West directly, but to no avail; Rose was soon pregnant with West's child and found herself looking after his two children by Rena Costello when West was sent to prison on various petty theft and fine evasion charges. And I watched her squirm. One of six children, West was reportedly his mother's favorite child. Her body was found following an excavation in the concrete and plastic membrane of the cellar floor. On December 13, 1994, West was charged on 12 counts of murder and taken into custody at Winson Green Prison in Birmingham, where, on January 1, 1995, he hung himself in his cell with knotted bed sheets. Stephen is one of the son of serial killers Fred and Rose West. Mae, now 46, says she has kept her secret dark secret even from her own children. You wouldnt just accept that your daughter had disappeared, would you? At first she convinced herself her mother was innocent, but she eventually faced up to the truth. She stopped writing to me. The former, just eight years old, was Fred Wests stepdaughter from his previous marriage to Rena West. To see all content on The Sun, please use the Site Map. Published: 22:00 GMT, 31 August 2018 | Updated: 00:44 GMT, 1 September 2018. Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? 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But the spectre of her parents crimes still haunts her. Fred, it also came to light, had committed at least two further murders alone, while Rose was responsible for killing Freds stepdaughter Charmaine from his first marriage to Rena, who was also one of Freds early victims. "Because of that, even into my adult life, Ive found it hard to cry," she says. I cant bear to be cornered in a corridor or a room. Police were dismantling her family home, her father was in custody and she had been cajoled into joining Rose in a safe house. FRED and Rose West's daughter Mae West has opened up about the horror she experienced with the UK's most infamous serial killers as her parents. Shed say: Theyre my mum and dad now, and that annoyed me, because I couldnt choose to shrug off my own parents. Exact date yellow weather warning for snow and ice forecast to hit UK - will you be affected? However, you will find some great articles which you can comment on right now in our Comment section. Speaking to The Daily Mail, Mae said: When Rose wrote to me from prison her letters arrived every week and said shed try to be a proper mum and tell me whatever I needed to know, I decided to ask her about Heather when I next visited her. Mae (pictured left) with siblings Heather and Stephen. Cops discovered the sexually depraved couple would pick up or abduct girls from bus stops around Gloucester and imprison and torture them for several days before killing them. When will the Beast from the East be at YOUR door? But she added: I probably asked mum about Mary when we were in safe houses. Picture: Rex Features "The Sun", "Sun", "Sun Online" are registered trademarks or trade names of News Group Newspapers Limited. Her mutilated corpse was dug up at their Gloucester semi by police who were stunned to find eight other bodies. The case against the Wests collapsed when two key witnesses decided not to testify against them. In its place is a pathway that leads to the town center. Mae is a pretty woman. News Group Newspapers Limited in England No. Their sickening crimes began to unravel when Fred was accused of raping his 13-year-old daughter in 1992, and Rose was arrested for child cruelty. They were both abused by her dad and Heather was murdered for trying to escape, The children were forced to sleep in the basement where five decapitated bodies were later exhumed, "It is strange and chilling to think about that game now , To the outside, the house of horrors looked like a normal family home, Mae says how Rose taught her to crochet and was a wonderful cook, Fred and Rose West murdered 10 girls - most of whom who buried at home, Rose made plans for her daughters funeral despite killing her and burying her in the garden, Mae says it took her a long time to accept her mothers guilt, Fred and Rose West: The Real Story with Trevor McDonald, Fred and Rose Wests daughter Mae reveals terror of being raped when she was five, Putin's thugs close in on ravaged Ukrainian city with thousands fleeing as intense fighting rages, Partygate buster Sue Gray's son 'boasting about mum on campaign trail as he tries to unseat Boris Johnson', Suella Braverman vows to stop the boats with new law to crack down on migrants using human rights laws to stay in UK, Runaway mum Constance Marten was 'groomed' by evil Nigerian sect leader, Man 'naked and covered in blood' arrested before mum found 'murdered' at home as neighbours reveal hearing screams, Rishi Sunaks new bill to end the Channel migrant crisis is crucial for the Tories, Leicester 'explosion': Listen to massive 'sonic' boom that shook homes and rattled windows.