Fred & Rose

More about the book

This account explores one of Britain’s most notorious killer couples, who engaged in a horrific spree of love, torture, and murder. At first glance, 25 Cromwell Street in Gloucester appeared ordinary, but in 1994, it became known as a “house of horrors” when the remains of nine young women—many decapitated and showing signs of sexual torture—were discovered buried beneath the cellar, bathroom floor, and garden. The couple’s gruesome activities extended beyond their home, with Fred’s first wife and nanny found in a nearby field, and his eight-year-old stepdaughter buried under their former residence. For over twenty years, Fred and Rose West maintained a façade of normalcy while committing heinous acts against female boarders, hitchhikers, and even family members. Howard Sounes, who initially reported on the Wests as a journalist, provides a detailed account of their lives and crimes, beginning with their strange childhoods. He constructs a chilling narrative of a marriage steeped in violence, with the true number of their victims likely never to be known. This case echoes the infamous “Moors Murders” of the 1960s, presenting a story of obsessive love intertwined with relentless murder.