Fred and Rose West's gruesome sex dungeon where they tortured and killed victims
It's 30 years since Fred and Rose West were arrested at their family home in Cromwell Street, Gloucester, where they would rape and kill several victims.
Fred and his wife were arrested on suspicion of murdering their daughter Heather on February 25, 1994, who had not been seen alive since 1987. The next day police found Heather's remains buried beneath the patio in their back garden.
Within two days, two more bodies were found in the garden - their former lodger Shirley Ann Robinson, who was 18 years old and pregnant, and Alison Chambers. Further grim discoveries were to follow, including body parts in the walls of their West Country town residence, which would later become known as the House of Horrors.
Fred West would go on to become known as one of Britain's most horrifying serial killers and was responsible for the deaths of at least 12 people. But before West could be sentenced to the rest of his life behind bars, he committed suicide in his prison cell as he awaited trial.
The twisted killer carried out 10 of the murders with his wife Rose, who is currently serving a whole life sentence and will never be freed.
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For two decades, Rose and Fred were the patriarch and matriarch of torture, sadism and death at their family home. She had Fred had claimed at least 12 victims and Rose has always tried to pin the blame on her husband, never accepting responsibility for her crimes.
It would eventually become known that Rose had been sexually abused from an early age by her father. In a chilling quote, her father told young Rose: "I made you so I can do what I like with you."
Psychologists believe Rose's warped childhood shaped her views of relationships and sex, which for her, had always been abusive. As Rose grew up, she continued the cycle of sexual abuse within the family and had sex with her two brothers.
Described as having an "insatiable desire for sex", Rose met her future husband Fred when she was just 15 and he was 27 while she was trawling the pubs in her home town, looking for sex. Before long, the couple realised they shared dark fantasies of sexual desire, including porn, prostitution and sadism.
He and his wife Rose killed up to 12 people (PA)
Fred West was finally arrested in 1994 (PA)The couple set up home together with Fred's two children from an earlier relationship. Fred and Rose would find babysitters for his two daughters as often as possible so they could fulfil their darkest desires, which included taking advantage of the vulnerable.
But then Fred was jailed for 10 months for petty thefts and Rose was left in charge of her two step-daughters and her own child. It was while Fred was behind bars that Rose's darkest parts of her personality emerged when she murdered Fred's daughter, Charmaine.
The act is said to have "excited" Fred, who confessed to Rose that he had already carried out a double murder. He had killed his first wife and their nanny, who was carrying his child.
Fred encased Charmaine in concrete in their first home in Midland Road, where she would remain undiscovered for more than 25 years. By 1972, the couple had married and Rose was expecting their second child, so the couple moved to a bigger home in Cromwell Road.
Here, their appetite for sexual deprivation increased still further and the house became known for its sex parties. Fred would pick men up from local pubs to bring back to have sex with his wife while he watched through spy holes.
Three of Rose's eight children are by partners she slept with behind Fred's back. Her father was also once again involved in the family and would visit the house to have sex with his daughter.
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The couple would lure their victims down into their basement (Press Association)
Fred created a 'sex dungeon' for his wife in the cellar (SWNS.com)Before long, even this wasn't enough and Fred created a 'sex dungeon' in the basement of Cromwell Street. They would lure victims downstairs and carry out extreme acts of sexual violence and torture.
Caroline Owens was the first young woman they persuaded to enter their hellish den. She was attacked and raped but managed to flee and went straight to the police.
But terrified Caroline, who was gagged and bound by Fred and Rose, was too humiliated by what had happened to her to agree to give evidence and the pair were charged with indecent assault. This was a turning point for the coupe, who realised they would need to silence their victims in future - no one else would get out of the basement alive.
The West's home on Cromwell Street, Gloucester, was dubbed the house of horrors (Sunday Mirror)Dr Needs explained: "Sometimes people dehumanise their victims so it becomes easier to inflict harm on someone else." When the couple's depraved actions finally caught up with them in 1994 and police found the bodies in both the home and garden of 25 Cromwell Street, officers made other gruesome discoveries.
Along with their victims Fred and Rose had also buried the tools of their torture. Forensic psychologist, Dr Julian Boon, said: "The thing that haunts me the most was a mask that had nothing but two nose holes so the person can breathe but they can't see or hear.
There are chilling drawings on the walls (SWNS)"As a consequence they could have anything done to them and that is very frightening." The house at 25 Cromwell Street was just minutes from a busy shopping centre but the layout of the home, with a side entrance and little street lighting, meant Fred and Rose could get their victims in almost undetected.
Then, they would lead them into the torture chamber they had created in the basement. Criminal profiler, Dr Paul Britton, said: "These aren't people who looked like predatory psychopaths, they looked ordinary. Their activities were out of plain sight. They were able to take their victims, bind them, gag them, break their teeth. They were able to put tubes into them to keep them alive for days and suspend them from hooks because of the nature of the building. "They were shielded and no one knew what was happening."
Fred and Rose West's reign of terror started to unravel when they killed their own daughter, Heather. They claimed she had moved to Devon for work but when Fred was arrested on suspicion of raping his own daughter and Rosemary for child cruelty, the investigation into what had happened to Heather was re-opened.
The case against Fred and Rose collapsed but all their children were taken into care and when police searched the home for Heather in 1994, they made the terrible discovery of human remains. Fred committed suicide while he was awaiting trial on January 1, 1995.
In October that year, Rose was convicted of 10 murders and will now spend the rest of her life behind bars. After almost 30 years in prison, Rose is still "pleading total innocence". Now aged 70, her lawyer Leo Goatley, who represented her when she was first arrested, has urged her to "find redemption" by confessing.
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