Rose West children what happened
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The fate of Fred and Rose West’s children: Abuse, murder, and survival

Killer couple murdered two of them

Fred West is dead and Rose West is in prison – this much we all know – but what happened to their children?

Fred and Rose West, 25 Cromwell Street
Fred and Rose West killed two of their children (Credit: ITV)

What happened to Fred and Rose West’s children?

They horribly abused the majority of them, killing two. They had five children together, while Fred brought two from his relationship with ex Rena, and Rose, who was a prostitute, had three by her clients.

Here, we take a look at what happened to them.

Heather West
Heather Anne West’s mum and dad murdered her when she was 16 (Credit: ITV)

Heather Anne West

Fred and Rose murdered Heather in 1987, when she was just 16. They claimed she had taken a summer camp job, before changing their story and saying she had run away.

According to the Daily Star, Heather’s younger brother, Barry, said he saw mum Rose kill her by stamping on her head, after which she “didn’t move again”.

Mae West

Now a mum herself, Mae has written a book, called Love As Always, about her relationship with her parents.

She appeared on ITV’s Good Morning Britain in 2018, when she admitted fears her dad could have killed many more people than those he buried at the family home.

Read more: Appropriate Adult: Is 25 Cromwell Street still there and other details of Fred and Rose West’s ‘House of Horrors’

Mae, whose identity was protected on GMB, said: “We didn’t see any evidence of that at all. People ask me, ‘Do you think he stopped?’ And I don’t think he did. I think he stopped using the house.”

Charmaine West
Fred’s ex’s daughter, Charmaine (Credit: ITV)

Charmaine

Charmaine was the daughter of Fred’s ex partner, Rena. She was pregnant when they met and Fred raised Charmaine as his own daughter.

When he split with Rena and met Rose, the latter became Charmaine’s step-mother.

Rose murdered Charmaine when she was eight years old in 1971, while Fred served time in prison for petty theft. She hid her remains for Fred to bury when he got out.

Charmaine’s mum Rena knocked at the Wests’ home to ask about her daughter – only for Fred to murder her and bury the body in Letterbox Field, Gloucester.

Stephen West in Appropriate Adult
Some of the West children portrayed in the ITV drama Appropriate Adult (Credit: ITV)

Stephen West

Stephen attempted to take his own life in 2002, but survived. In 2004, as reported by the Daily Mail, he was jailed for having sex with an underage girl.

Barrister Stephen Mooney, acting for Stephen, said of his client’s behaviour: “He had one of the most traumatic and distressing childhoods one can imagine and what happened affected his emotional development.

“Anyone who has suffered like him has a tendency to remain emotionally less well-developed for his age.”

He had one of the most traumatic and distressing childhoods… what happened affected his emotional development.

Like the majority of his siblings, Stephen’s parents physically abused him. He also unknowingly dug Heather’s grave after dad Fred told him it was for a garden pond.

Anne Marie

Anne Marie was Charmaine’s half sister, as Fred was her biological father and Rena her mother. The Wests raised her after Fred murdered her mum.

Fred repeatedly raped her when she was as young as eight. The abuse continued into her teenage years.

Read more: Appropriate Adult: What did Fred and Rose West do and where are they now?

Anne Marie gave evidence against both Fred and Rose during their murder trial. In 1999, she attempted suicide.

She went on to detail her horrific childhood in a book called Out of the Shadows: Fred West’s Daughter Tells Her Harrowing Story of Survival.

Rose West
Rose West is serving life in prison for her crimes (Credit: ITV)

Fred and Rose West’s other children

Barry, Tara, Louise, Rosemary junior and Lucyanna were all taken into care in 1992 after the Wests were accused of sexual abuse.

Fred West did not abuse Tara, whose father was one of Rose’ clients, like her siblings.

She said, according to the Mirror: “I realise now that Dad was only interested in his natural daughters. He thought they were his property. Because I wasn’t his daughter he left me alone.”

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Nancy Brown
Associate Editor