Fred West

In 1962, Fred West met Rena Costello, who was a prostitute. She was then pregnant with another man's child. Fred married her in November 1962, and her daughter Charmaine was born in March 1963. In 1964, Rena gave birth to Fred’s daughter Anna Marie.

In November 1968, he met Rosemary Letts, who was a teen at that time. She was born after her mentally ill pregnant mother was given electro-convulsive therapy, which may have caused prenatal injury that would eventually lead to her bouts of aggression. Rose gave birth to Fred’s daughter Heather in 1970.

In January 1972, Fred married Rose secretly, and their second daughter Mae was born in June 1972. As the family grew, they moved to 25 Cromwell Street. By this time, Rose had started earning money as a prostitute.

Frederick West was born on September 29 1941, at Bickerton Cottage, Much Marcle, to Walter Stephen West and Daisy Hannah Hill. He had five siblings. His parents were farm workers. In 1946, his family moved to Moorcourt Cottage, where his father worked as a milking herdsman and harvest worker.

Fred and his siblings helped their parents in farm chores. From childhood, Fred developed a habit of petty thefts. He was always shabby and dirty, and in school he was always in trouble. He dropped out of school at the age of 15, and never studied again.

He later claimed his mother sexually abused him when he was 12, and encouraged him to engage in acts of bestiality in his early teens. He also claimed that his indulgence in incest stemmed from his father's incestuous relations with his daughters. However, Fred's youngest brother Doug dismissed these claims as Fred’s fantasy.

At the age of 17, he met with a motorcycle accident, which led to serious head injuries; he was in coma for a week. A metal plate was placed in his head, and according to experts, that might have affected his mental behavior. Fred met with another accident while jumping off a fire escape at a local youth club and incurred another head injury. Experts believe this might have led to a permanent brain damage.

By 1960, Fred West was already known to the police for his involvement in various petty crimes. In 1961, when he impregnated a 13-year-old girl who was a friend of the West family, he was thrown out of the house. He took up some work as a construction worker, but was soon chucked out when he was caught stealing and having sex with minors.

He escaped his trial for the rape of the 13-year-old friend of the family by claiming that he was suffering from fits due to head injury, but he was still convicted of child molestation.

In 1964, Fred and his first wife Rena met Anna McFall, who was a friend, and with her they moved to Gloucester, where he found a job in a slaughterhouse. Researchers believe that this profession made Fred brutal and obsessed with death.

It is alleged that while he lived in Gloucester, he committed eight incidents of sex assaults, but he was not immediately linked to these crimes due to lack of evidence. Fred West also became sexually involved with McFall, who became pregnant with his child. When she asked him to divorce Rena and marry her, he killed her in 1967.

Around this time, he left Rena and became involved with Rosemary who he would eventually marry. It is believed that his second wife Rose killed 8-year-old Charmaine, Rena’s eldest child, in 1971, when Fred was in jail. She is believed to have hidden her body till Fred was released. He then buried her like his first victim.