PSYCHOLOGY

Psychology

Psychology

Frederick Walter Stephen West (29 September 1941 - 1 January 1995), better known as Fred West, was an English serial killer. Between 1967 and 1987, he and his wife Rosemary tortured, raped and murdered at least 12 young women and girls, many at the couple's homes. The majority of the murders occurred between May 1973 and September 1979 at their home in Gloucester. Rosemary West also murdered Fred's stepdaughter (his first wife's biological daughter) Charmaine, while he was serving a prison sentence for theft.

Fred West was born into a poor family of farm workers in Bickerton Cottage, Much Marcle, Herefordshire, to Walter Stephen West (1914-1992) and Daisy Hannah Hill. He was the second of their eight children. West would later claim that his father had incestuous relationships with his daughters.

It has been suggested that incest was an accepted part of the household, and that his father taught him bestiality from an early age. West recalled, in police interviews, that his father had said on many occasions "Do what you want, just don't get caught doing it". It is also alleged that his mother Daisy began sexually abusing him from the age of 12.

At school, West showed an aptitude for woodwork and artwork, but did not excel academically. He left school at the age of 15 in December 1956 and began work as a farm labourer. Two years later, in November 1958, he suffered a fractured skull and a broken arm and leg in a motorcycle accident. The accident put him into an eight-day coma. His family reported that after the accident he became prone to sudden fits of rage. Two years later, he was unconscious for 24 hours after hitting his head in a fall from a fire escape.

At age 20, he was arrested for molesting a 13-year-old girl. He was convicted, but escaped a sentence of imprisonment. His family effectively disowned him thereafter. In September 1962, the 21-year-old West became re-acquainted with a former girlfriend, Catherine Costello, who was now better known as Rena from her time working as a prostitute. Costello was already pregnant by another man, and she and West married on 17 November before moving to Glasgow. Her daughter, Charmaine Carol, was born on 22 February 1963. Costello and West claim they had adopted Charmaine, whose father was a Pakistani man. In July 1964 Costello bore West a daughter named Anne Marie. During this period in Glasgow, West worked as an ice cream van driver. On 4 November 1965, he accidentally ran over and killed a four-year-old boy with his van.

The family, along with Isa McNeill who looked after the couple's children and Costello's friend Anne McFall, moved into the Lakeside caravan park in Bishop's Cleeve, Gloucestershire at the end of 1965, when West feared for his safety following the vehicular homicide incident. To escape from West's sadistic sexual demands, Costello and McNeill moved to Scotland in 1966 while McFall, who had become infatuated with West, and the two children remained with ...