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Curse of Fred & Rose West’s children – from tragic suicide to paedo son who chillingly said ‘I have a bit of dad in me’

Published on June 03, 2025 at 06:57 AM

THEY grew up in the house of horrors where their twisted parents sexually tortured and murdered young women – including their own sister.

The lived with the threat that if they misbehaved they could end up like their sister, Heather, while the girls also had to fend off the disgusting sexual advances of their dad.

PRESS HANDOUT // Fred and Rose West The Search For The Victims7_jpg_LargeImage_m19858
Fred and Rose West rank among the most infamous serial killers in British history
Mae West (right), aged 6, and her sister Heather, who was murdered by their father https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/26126588/fred-rose-west-daughter-secret-childhood-mum-letter/
Daughter Heather (left), pictured next to her sister Mae, was murdered by her evil parents
Archive photo of Fred and Rose West at their daughter Anne-Marie's wedding. Anne-Marie is pictured seated in the centre of the picture with a white flower in her hair and daughter Heather who was later murdered is seated on the far right. Photo released May 20 2025. Objects taken from Fred and Rose West's 'House of Horrors' are on display on an exhibition dubbed 'sickening' - including torture whips and the tie Fred used to kill his victims. Photos show the memorabilia at Littledean Jail in Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire - including objects taken from the serial killers' property on 25 Cromwell Street. Their house in Gloucester - where the mutilated bodies of nine young women were found - was demolished in 1996. A new docuseries from Netflix tells the horrifying story of prolific serial killer Fred West, and his wife Rose West using previously unseen footage and unheard audio tapes.
The West family pictured at their daughter Anne-Marie’s wedding
Anne-Marie Davis, daughter of Fred West who has spoken out for the first time in a decade to condemn a new ITV drama about her father. See SWNS story SWWEST; THE daughter of Cromwell Street killer Fred West has broken a ten-year silence to condemn a controversial new ITV drama about the grisly mass murders. Distraught Anne Marie Davis said she had decided to speak out because she believes the TV dramatisation will revive deeply traumatic memories for the families of Fred and Rose West's victims. Anne Marie, whose own mother Rena Costello and half-sisters Charmaine and Heather were all murdered, said: I felt physically sick when I heard about the plans to turn the tragic events which devastated so many people's lives into a TV drama. I haven't spoken about this for ten years and the only reason I am speaking now is because I want ITV to realise they will be causing unimaginable distress to the families of the young girls who were murdered.
Anne-Marie testified against her parents in court

The were only uncovered when the traumatised children told teachers about Heather’s , sparking a police search that uncovered nine and cellar of 25 Cromwell Street in Gloucester.

Therapist and serial killer couple shared ten children in total – including five they had together.

Charmaine and Anne-Marie were Fred’s daughters from his first marriage, then there were Mae, Tara, Louise, Rosemary Jr, Lucyanna, Stephen and Barry.

Three of these children were conceived with clients slept with while working as a prostitute, while Charmaine and Heather were killed by their parents after enduring years of abuse.

The have felt the curse of the Wests’ depraved crimes over the years, as they struggled to come to terms with the lasting impact of their warped childhood.

Fred committed at least 12 murders and killed himself in January 1995 while on remand in prison. in November 1995 and sentenced to ten life terms with a whole life order.

Now, after The Sun revealed their paedophile son – a daughter with his former glamour model fiancée Emma Bradley – we look at where the troubled West children are now.

Anne-Marie

Anne-Marie was Fred’s second daughter from his first marriage to Catherine Costello, known as Rena.

Her mother and older sister Charmaine were both murdered by the Wests.

Anne-Marie is the oldest surviving child of the family and she was the only one of her siblings to testify about the abuse they suffered at Rose and Fred’s hands in court.

In 1972, when Anne-Marie was eight years old, she was restrained and raped by Fred, while Rose watched and actively encouraged the abuse, even forcibly undressing her step-daughter.

After this first assault, Rose — who was sexually abused by her own father — allegedly told Anne-Marie: “I’m sorry. Everybody does it to every girl. It’s a father’s job. Don’t worry, and don’t say anything to anybody.”;

From the age of 13, Anne-Marie was forced into prostitution, telling clients who visited the house – where Rose was already selling sex – that she was 16. Anne-Marie ran away from home in 1979 when she was 15.

She later changed her name to Anne-Marie, and married husband Philip Davis. She later wrote a book about her ordeal at the hands of her parents called Out of the Shadows.

Now aged 61, she still lives in Gloucester but has sadly struggled with her mental health for years.

Last month her husband told the Daily Mail that she was estranged from her siblings despite them living in close proximity.

“It’s the siblings who live with the misery and pain of what went on in that house and the trauma is probably too much for them to have any contact,”; he said.

“Even though some of them live near each other, they don’t speak or see each other because that only opens up old wounds for them.”;

Mae West

Mandatory Credit: Photo by Rex Features ( 226871d ) DAUGHTER MAE WEST FRED AND ROSEMARY WEST MURDERS - FAMILY PICTURES, BRITAIN - 1994
Mae West is Fred’s youngest daughter
Mae West with brother Stephen son and daughter of fred and rose west who appeared in TV programme Inside 25 Cromwell street and Inside Story Special
Mae (right) pictured with her paedo brother Stephen
Mandatory Credit: Photo by South West News Service/REX/Shutterstock (251541k) ROSEMARY WEST MURDERERS FRED AND ROSE WEST - 1995
Mae suffered horrific abuse at the hands of her mother, Rose

Shortly after Mae was born in 1972, Rose started selling sex from an upstairs room at their Cromwell Street home, meaning Mae always grew up with a string of strangers coming in and out of the house.

at the hands of her mother, and was sexually abused by Fred.

After her parents’ arrest, Mae initially denied that she’d been sexually abused, but later wrote about it in her 2018 memoir,Love as Always.

She also detailed her struggle to come to terms with the crimes her parents committed.

“Knowing your parents are regarded by most people as evil beyond belief is incredibly hard to live with, especially when your own experience of them has been more complicated and you’ve seen a side to them which makes them more than simply monsters,”; she wrote.

“Both of them had a side which seemed, at times at least, like other people. Mum could be tender and gentle with very young children; she had a sense of humour. Dad could be friendly and make us laugh.”;

Even after Rose was convicted of 10 murders and sentenced to life in prison, Mae still believed she was innocent and continued to write to her and visit her in prison.

She told That’s Life magazine: “As the years passed though, I realised how controlling and manipulative Mum was. She’d been dubbed the most evil woman who had ever lived.

“I’ve read about Stockholm syndrome, where a person can become emotionally dependent on the person who is holding them hostage. I realised I was an emotional hostage to Mum. Now we no longer speak.”;

Mae is now married and has two children, Amy and Luke. After Luke was born she became a recluse, terrified to leave the house in case she was recognised as a West.

But with the help of therapy she has come to terms with her past and has a job in .

Stephen West

Stephen West, the son of Fred West, arrives at Worcester Crown Court. Stephen West, the son of serial killers Fred and Rosemary West, was jailed for nine months after admitting seven counts of under-age sex with a 14-year-old girl.
Paedo Stephen was jailed for having sex with an underage girl

Stephen, now 51, lives in Gloucestershire with his former glamour model fiancée Emma Bradley just a few miles away from his childhood home, the Cromwell Street house of horrors.

Stephen may have been the about his crimes.

On the morning police began searching their infamous 25 Cromwell Street home, Fred reportedly told his son: “Look son, look after mum and sell the house... I’ve done something really bad. I want you to go to the papers and make as much as you can.”;

Later, while in custody, Fred made chilling admissions to Stephen, including the horrifying revelation that as a child, the young boy had unknowingly helped dig the graves of his

Stephen recalled: “He [Fred] said to me: ‘Can you remember helping me dig those holes in the garden when you were a kid?’ I said I couldn’t remember, but he said: ‘We did it together, you know.’ Then he said: ‘That’s where the girls were found, in the exact holes.’”;

Stephen struggled mentally and attempted suicide in 2002. Two years later, he was after admitting to seven counts of having underage sex with a 14-year-old girl when he was 20.

He reportedly once remarked: “There’s a bit of my dad in me.”;

Sources said Stephen and fiancée Emma are planning to tie the knot in August at the posh Celtic Manor hotel in Newport – against her family’s wishes.

One family insider told The Sun: “None of us support it. He makes us uncomfortable.”;

Stephen, who is a grandad, has been married twice before and now has eight children.

The former builder is believed to be out of work and living on benefits, driving a motability carhe gets for one of his daughters, who is disabled.

Last month he told the Daily Mail that most of the West children are estranged, explaining, “We don’t have anything to do with each other. I don’t speak to my siblings and there are no large happy family get-togethers. Too much has gone on. It’s probably too painful for us.”;

BarryWest

Fred and Rosemary West's youngest son has been found dead from a suspected overdose., , Barry West, 40, had long battled drug addiction, nightmares and psychiatric problems, according to reports., , Barry was just seven years old when he saw his parents beat his sister Heather to death at their home in Gloucester., , All the children of Fred and Rose West were forced to endure incest, brutal beatings, porn and prostitution.
Fred and Rosemary West’s youngest son Barry was found dead from a suspected overdose
Undated TV still from Fred And Rose West: A British Horror Story. Pictured: Rose West and Fred West. See PA Feature SHOWBIZ Download Reviews. WARNING: This picture must only be used to accompany PA Feature SHOWBIZ Download Reviews. PA Photo. Picture credit should read: Netflix, Inc. All Rights Reserved. NOTE TO EDITORS: This picture must only be used to accompany PA Feature SHOWBIZ Download Reviews.
A journalist who met Barry said he was tormented by his parents’ vile nature
A stock picture of Heather West, daughter and murder victim of serial killers Fred and Rosemary West, in the
Barry claims to have witnessed his parents murder his sister Heather (pictured)

Born in 1980, Barry was one of the West’s younger children and claimed to have seen his parents murder his sister Heather when he was just seven years old.

He said: “I heard my mum slap her, then I looked through the crack and saw my dad walk round behind her and put his leg out. Then he grabbed her neck and tripped her over.

“She went on to the floor. I could see her just a few feet away. Then my mum just booted her.

“She was kicking and kicking her and calling her a s**g. My dad still had her by the throat.”;

He later branded his mother a “psychopath”; and said: “I was happy when my dad committed suicide and now I think they should put my mum in a room with all the parents of the people she helped murder so they could tear her to pieces.”;

He tragically died of a suspected overdose in 2020, aged just 40, while he was living in a supported hostel for adults coming out of rehab or prison.

Journalist Howard Sounes, who wrote a book on the depraved couple, met Barry and had stayed in touch. He said Barry was tormented by his childhood.

He said: “He was totally haunted by his childhood. How do you overcome being the son of Fred and Rose West?

“The whole West story is littered with these really tragic stories, there was a lot of collateral of the West murder case.”;

Tara West

Tara was born of Rose West’s prostitution and her biological father was one of Rose’s clients.

Tara, now 47, was named after the Tara Hotel in Gloucester, which Rose frequented with her clients.

In 1992, she was taken into care and forbidden contact with her parents or her older siblings.

She is now believed to be married and living in the north of England under a different name.

Louise West

Louise, now 46, was also taken into fostercare as a child and is now thought to be living in the north of .

She is believed to have intermittent contact with some of her sisters.

Rosemary Jr. and Lucyanna

Both Rosemary Jr, 42, and Lucyanna, 41, were fathered by clients of Rose.

They too had their names changed when taken into foster care in 1992 and have remained private under their new identities.

Mandatory Credit: Photo by David White/REX/Shutterstock (226704a) POLICE EXCAVATING THE GARDEN OF 25 CROMWELL STREET, GLOUCESTER FRED AND ROSEMARY WEST MURDERS - 1994
Fred and Rose’s killing spree came to light after the couple’s children discussed their sister Heather being ‘under the patio’ with social workers
Mandatory Credit: Photo by South West News Service/REX/Shutterstock (229003c) POLICE EXCAVATING THE GARDEN OF 25 CROMWELL STREET, GLOUCESTER FRED AND ROSEMARY WEST MURDERS, BRITAIN - 1994
A police search uncovered nine bodies buried in the Wests’ garden and cellar
Police standing outside number 25 Cromwell Street, the home of murderers Fred and Rosemary West, 23rd April 1994. (Photo by Garratt/Mirrorpix/Getty Images)
The home of murderers Fred and Rose West

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