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The Sun
7 minutes ago
- The Sun
Inside Fred & Rose West's sordid house of horrors where kids slept above dead bodies & were made to do the unthinkable
A FORGOTTEN interview with the son of evil serial killers Fred and Rose West has revealed the torture he suffered at the hands of his parents. This includes sleeping above the bodies of their victims buried under the cellar. 9 9 9 The previously unpublished accounts of Barry West give a harrowing insight into what it was like growing up in Britain's House of Horrors. Fred and Rose West between them committed at least 12 murders of girls and young women between 1967 and 1987 in Gloucestershire. In 1994 the couple were arrested and charged - with Fred taking his own life the following January in prison, while Rose was sentenced to 10 life terms with a whole life order. Journalist and author Howard Sounes has shared his unearthed interview with Barry, two years before he died of an overdose in 2020, aged 40, for the first time. 'My dad was a solid monster,' Barry told Sounes, reports The Mirror. 'But she [Rose] was a complete psycho. That's what people don't know: My mum was, child abuse-wise, the main person. "My mum was completely sick in the head. She beat me way more than my dad did, and enjoyed it, absolutely enjoyed it.' The West children were made to sleep in the cellar of the family's home in Cromwell Street, Gloucester, under which they buried many of their victims. Sometimes they were strapped to their beds - and Rose wore a the cellar keys around her neck like a prison guard. The evil mum would regularly snap and lash out - hitting and slapping, as well as stabbing and strangling her kids. Her weapon of choice was often a novelty giant wooden spoon, which she'd wield like a baseball bat. Barry told Sounes his nose is "on a slant" due to the amount of times Rose broke it, and has "massive scars" on the back of his head where he was struck over and over again. He went on to describe the "intense enjoyment" his mum got out of "beating the s*** out of me". Barry recalls how one Christmas Day he hid some sprouts in a tissue on the back of a chair, and when Rose found them days later she forced him to eat the rotting vegetables. He said she put her hand over his mouth and made him swallow his own sick. Anna McFall The nanny of Fred and Rena West's children, McFall was believed to have been murdered in 1967. She was pregnant when she died, with West believed to have been the father. Her body was found in June 1994 in a shallow grave. Fred West denied murdering McFall but he is said to have confided to a visitor after his arrest that he stabbed her following an argument. This happened before Rosemary West met him. Charmaine West With Fred in prison for the theft of car tyres and a vehicle tax disc, Rosemary was left to look after eight-year-old Charmaine. A neighbour is said to have found Charmaine tied to a wooden chair with her hands behind her back with Rosemary standing with a large wooden spoon. Rosemary claimed she'd been taken by her mother Rena but her skeleton was found at the Midland Road property, hidden and missing bones. Rena West Rena is believed to have been murdered by strangulation to avoid an investigation into Charmaine's whereabouts. Rosemary was not charged for this murder. Lynda Gough Lynda Gough, 21, was the first sexually motivated killing conducted by the Wests. She moved into Cromwell Street in April 1973, having had affairs with several lodgers. The Wests later claimed she'd been asked to leave after hitting one of their children. Strangulation and suffocation were the likely causes of death. Carol Ann Cooper Cooper was murdered in November 1973 aged just 15. She was allowed to spend the night at her grandmother's house before a doctor's appointment the next morning. But she somehow ending up on Cromwell Street and was killed by the couple. Her body was found more than twenty years later. Lucy Partington A 21-year-old medieval English student at Exeter University, she returned home for Christmas in December 1973. She left a friend's house in a rush to get the last bus from Cheltenham to Gretton on 27 December, and was abducted. She was found more twenty years later, her dismembered body in the cellar of Cromwell Street. Therese Siegenthaler A 21-year-old Swiss sociology student at Woolwich Polytechnic. She had planned to hitch-hike to Ireland in Easter 1974. Her family reported her missing having not heard from her for some time. Prosecution believe she was abducted before being killed, with Fred West later building a fake chimney over her grave. Shirley Hubbard Just 15 at the time of her death, Hubbard is believed to have been abducted by the Wests. Her body was found following an excavation in the concrete and plastic membrane of the cellar floor. Juanita Mott In the summer of 1974, Mott, 19, moved into 25 Cromwell Street but later went missing when she was living in Newent. Her body was found in March 1994, 19 years later, with West having concreted over the floor of the cellar. Shirley Robinson The first victim buried outside the house, Robinson had an affair with Fred West, and by autumn 1977, she was pregnant with his child. It was initially claimed the 18-year-old had moved to Scotland but her body was later found. 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. Alison Chambers The last murder with a sexual motive established. She disappeared just before her 17 th birthday, having been seen at 25 Cromwell Street throughout the summer. Her body was buried underneath the patio. Heather West The first child born to Fred and Rosemary West, there is no evidence the 16-year-old was aware of the killings. Sexually abused by her parents and having told friends, she suddenly went missing in 1987, with Rosemary claiming she had gone to Wales to be with a lesbian partner. The couple would joke to their other children that they would 'end up under the patio like Heather' if they misbehaved. This - and Fred's abuse of his other daughter - led to the search warrants for the property, and subsequently to their arrests. Barry and his brothers were forced to grow their hair long and wore their sisters' hand-me-downs to school - while their sisters were made to cut their hair short and wear boys' shoes. He said he and all his siblings had speech impediments growing up, a sign of child abuse. Barry would get his "face punched in" at school every day, but was scared to go home. He recalled how Fred would constantly talk about sex in front of his kids and about wanting to take his daughters' virginity, as well as the family tradition of incest, and sex with animals. 9 9 9 Fred's main ambition was to see Rose mounted by a bull. Barry said he was forced into sexual situations with his mum aged eight or nine. The kids were often forced to make phone bookings for "Mandy" - Rose's prostitute alias, and Barry was even offered as an extra for clients. A "giant man" became a regular who would rape Barry at the house. He said the children were even made to watch homemade porn featuring their mum and she kept different underwear in labelled jars for each client. There is a chance, according to some reports, that Fred was not Barry's biological father at all, and he was the product of an incestuous relationship between Rose and her own dad Bill Letts. He had allegedly abused her since she was a child, and regularly visited the Cromwell Street house, according to Rose's notes from prison. The Wests' murder victims were usually attacked and killed, then often dismembered in the family bathroom. Most of their children maintained they had no idea what was going on. How horror unfolded JANUARY 1968: Mary vanishes aged 15 while waiting for a bus to meet her boyfriend. FEBRUARY 1968: Scotland Yard detectives called in to investigate Mary's disappearance return to London with no sign of her. FEBRUARY 1994: Police search garden at Fred and Rose West's home, 25 Cromwell St, Gloucester, over their teenage daughter Heather's disappearance. Nine bodies are found and Fred West is charged with murder. Police are then informed of a potential link to Mary's disappearance and the café. APRIL 1994: Rose West is charged with murder. JANUARY 1995: Fred West kills himself in jail while awaiting trial for 12 murders. NOVEMBER 1995: Rose convicted of ten murders, including Fred's step-daughter from previous marriage Charmaine, pictured, who vanished aged eight. JANUARY 2012: Police reject a petition by Mary's friends to search café. MAY 2021: TV documentary makers find new evidence of Mary's remains at café. Police begin a dig at the scene. One child, who Sounes does not identify, however, claimed years later they were locked in a cupboard under the stairs and could hear shouting and screaming. When they came out, fresh concrete had been poured in the cellar, they claimed. Barry said the children didn't run away because they considered their dad "like God" who would "find you". His older sister Heather vanished aged 16 in 1987 after saying she wanted to leave the house - before later being found dismembered under the patio. It was a long-running family "joke" that Heather was buried in the garden which became a sick reality when police diggers later moved in. However, Barry recalled how he once tried to kill Fred with a screwdriver when he was 11, but his dad just laughed at him. But they did get some revenge on Rose by banding together as she came at them with the wooden spoon. It was when the police investigation had begun into the Wests had begun and just before the children were put into care. They piled on top of their mum and she hit them until she was "knackered" and then "broke down", with Barry saying it was the first time they "saw weakness". 9 9 9
The Sun
7 minutes ago
- The Sun
Woman turned away from Wetherspoons for wearing Union Jack dress ‘absolutely disgusted' over policy
A WOMAN sporting a Union Jack dress was turned away from a Wetherspoon's pub amid anti-immigration protests. Tanya Ostolski said she had been refused service from The Picture House in Sutton-in-Ashfield, Nottinghamshire for her patriotic style on Friday. 2 2 At first the 54-year-old said she was refused entry for carrying a St George's cross flag. However, even after she'd put the flag in her bag, they still refused to let her in which she said was attributed to her Union Jack dress. It has left her concerned that she might be barred in future. She told Nottinghamshire Live: "It's our flag, it's our nation's flag. I wasn't being aggressive or anything, I didn't get lairy or anything. "I put the flag back in my bag, and they said I can't come in because of my dress." Wetherspoon spokesperson Eddie Gershon said: "Pub managers have a duty under the licensing laws, and as a matter of common sense, to judge every situation on its particular circumstances. 'In this case, the pub manager felt that it was important not to increase tensions. 'Therefore, on this occasion the manager asked customers not to enter with flags or any placards.' It came amid an anti-illegal immigration demonstration in the town, as protesters gathered 50 metres away from the pub. Protests began at around 4.30pm and had ended by around 7pm. 'Epping migrant protester' is arrested at home as ring of steel ramps up They were sparked by local Reform MP Lee Anderson who has made an unfounded claim that a man charged with rape in the area is an asylum seeker. The claim regards a man who was arrested after reportedly raping a woman at Sutton Lawn. Anderson made the claims on X, despite being advised against it by Nottinghamshire Police as it could interfere with the justice proceedings. An estimated 300 people attended the protest, with around a dozen counter protesters from Stand Up To Racism present. Anger was directed towards Sir Keir Starmer, with people chanting "stop the boats". At one point in the evening, police guarded the entrance to the Wetherspoon pub after protesters like Tanya complained about being turned away. The popular pub chain's "no-flag policy" has seen it face backlash in the past. During the 2018 World Cup it faced backlash after several of its venues were asked not to display England flags, or any other nation's flag. Instead, all 32 nations were represented on bunting decorating the pubs. This policy was changed for the 2024 Euros, during which the pubs were permitted to display flags.
The Sun
7 minutes ago
- The Sun
‘Killer' accused of murdering beauty queen ‘fled to UK on small boat' as heartbroken dad fears he'll never get justice
A MAN accused of murdering his beauty queen wife fled to the UK on a small boat, it is claimed. Ibrahim Ghazal, from Lebanon, is alleged to have suffocated Zeina Kanjo to death in Beirut before moving around Europe for years. 3 3 The 36-year-old - who is subject to an Interpol red notice - eventually travelled to Britain from France this year along with thousands of other migrants. Ghazal was jailed last week jailed for nine months for attempting to arrive without valid entry clearance after being arrested by Border Force. Government officials are facing a possible crisis ahead of his sentence expiring. Ms Kanjo's dad Mohammed fears his daughter will never get justice if the alleged killer returns to Lebanon and is hopeful the British legal system can step up. There are fears Ghazal could do the same to remain in Britain. Ms Kanjo, 33, was murdered in January 2021, having apparently got married just four months earlier. Her death sparked a national debate in Lebanon about domestic abuse. Ms Kanjo had filed domestic violence and fraud cases against her new husband and was trying to divorce him when she was killed, according to reports. She had represented her country at a beauty contest in Egypt the previous year. Ghazal allegedly fled to Turkey hours after his wife's death. Lebanese channel Al Jadeed broadcast an audio recording in which he allegedly admitted to the murder. Speaking to Ms Kanjo's sister, the person says: "I didn't want to, I didn't want her to die, when she was screaming, I just put my hand on her mouth." Ghazal is understood to have travelled through Greece, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. He was arrested in December 2022 in Stokholm under Interpol's red notice. However, Swedish laws prevented him from being extradited back home where he said he faced execution, and when he was detained again in Germany, the same thing happened, according to Ms Kanjo's lawyer Ashraf Al-Moussawi. Mr Al-Moussawi has pointed out Lebanon has not carried out an execution since 1994 and so this should not have been used as a defence. He added the alleged killer then "wandered Europe until his recent arrest in England". The lawyer has urged the British government to find a way to send Ghazal back to his homeland to face justice. Ms Kanjo's dad Mohammed claims his daughter's husband had sneaked back into Lebanon to attend his cousin's wedding a year after his wife's death. "After all this time, I'm left wondering if justice will ever be served," he told the Mail. "It's like something is missing from your body, something that is not replaceable. "I honestly hope he's not handed over to Lebanese authorities only to be imprisoned and then released again." He added perhaps the UK legal system can "find a way to properly punish him". Ghazal was detained by Border Force and jailed at Gloucester Crown Court last Wednesday after admitting to entering the country unlawfully. A Government spokesman said: "The Home Office never comments on whether extradition requests have or have not been received, and it is also our longstanding policy not to comment on individual cases. "However, we will always do everything in our power to remove serious foreign criminals from the UK so they are not left free on our streets after completing their sentence."
