Happy Like Murderers

by Gordon Burn

  Fred West was brought back into the first-floor interview room at Gloucester police station just after half past four. Hazel Savage told him the police were experiencing difficulties digging. The hole kept filling up with water. And he told her about the water table and the moat around Gloucester. About the moat being filled in and the very high water table. ‘I understand that you have been told by your solicitor that we have found something,’ DC Savage said to him when he was finished.

  FRED WEST Yeah. Bones.

  DC SAVAGE Would there be anybody else’s bones there? Would there be anybody else’s bones in any other part of the garden?

  FRED WEST [after a long silence] That’s a peculiar question to ask, isn’t it? … Heather is in there. An’ there ain’t no more … There’s nothing else.

  In another interview at quarter past seven, two hours later, he was told about the third human thigh bone found in his garden. It would eventually be matched with the skeletal remains of Alison Chambers. It had been found buried under the filled-in paddling pool, immediately under the extension bathroom window.

  DC SAVAGE Fred, the question is, is there anybody else buried in your garden?

  FRED WEST Only Heather.

  DC SAVAGE You’ve never said to us that you scatteredHeather all over the garden. And Heather didn’t have three legs.

  SOLICITOR’S CLERK [breaking a long silence] Have you any knowledge of where this other bone might have come from at all?

  FRED WEST [almost inaudibly] Yes. Shirley.

  DC SAVAGE Shirley who?

  FRED WEST Robinson. The girl who caused the problem.

  That Saturday Anne Marie was having a birthday party for her younger daughter Carol, who was seven. She had fifteen children in the house plus Carol’s teacher when she took a call from a policewoman at Gloucester police station who told her that Heather’s body had been dug up in the garden at Cromwell Street that afternoon; her father had been arrested for Heather’s murder. ‘I was shaking. I wanted to cry,’ Anne Marie wrote later. ‘Instead I … found a bottle of sherry … and poured some into a tumbler … I made one phone call to my boyfriend, the father of my youngest child, and asked him to leave work as soon as possible and come to my house. Then I pinned a smile on my face, took a gulp of sherry and organized another party game.’

  In 1994 Andrew Letts and his wife Jacquie were living in a tiny flat on a council estate outside Cheltenham. It had been built as accommodation for the carers at the home for the physically handicapped opposite. They had known better times. Andrew was always on a catch-up, as he put it. Always broke. He liked the horses. He liked gambling. He was always trying to get on his feet. ‘I thought we’d come as low as we could get,’ he said when he heard about Rose, ‘then this happens.’ That weekend they drove over to see Graham and Barbara at their house in Nelson Street in Gloucester. Graham had come out of prison on Christmas Eve. Seven weeks. He looked very pale. That prison pallor. He was smoking heavily and drinking. To Andrew and Jacquie that day Graham looked terrified. He was physically shaking. Rose’s mother was living in Reading. After Rose’s father died she had moved in as a companion/housekeeper to a widower in his house near Henley. He suffered from Alzheimer’s in his final years and she had looked after him until he died. ‘Glenys had bought a paper,’ Mrs Letts says. ‘I see “digging up the garden”. And then I see “25 Cromwell Street”. Glen looked across at me and said, “Mum, what’s wrong? Mum, what’s wrong?” I run down the telephone to phone Andrew. Andrew came over. I’d worked for all nice people and I couldn’t face anyone. I did work for some really nice families. I had really nice people around me. Don’t put where it was. The name of the village. I wouldn’t like them to know.’

  *

  Rose was released on bail on the Sunday night. At twenty past nine on Sunday, 27 February, she was let go from the police station and taken to Cromwell Street and Stephen and Mae. They had been living with the curtains drawn since late on Friday. There were cameramen and reporters camped in the street. TV crews. Transporter vans with cranes and satellite dishes parked around the corner. The police had taped black bags over the windows at the back of the house. It was blacked out. Mae and Stephen were under siege. When their mum came in she was very quiet and she just sat down. Superintendent Bennett had already told them that they were going to have to take over the whole of the house. They were going to have to be moved out of the house. The police needed to search all of it. A safe house was being set up. ‘I’m spending one night here and then we’re off,’ Rose told them, ‘and we’re never coming back to Cromwell Street again.’ That night all of them – Mae and her mum and Stephen and his girlfriend Andrea and the cat and the two dogs, Oscar and Benji – all slept in the same room together. It was still wet outside. It had never stopped raining. Water was being pumped out of the pits and trenches where in the morning they would resume looking. Oscar and Benji would have to be taken to the RSPCA.

  ‘The thing I’d like to stress, I mean, Rose knew nothing at all … She hasn’t done anything,’ Fred West had said in one of his first interviews with the police, and it was a position from which he would never waver. At one point Hazel Savage asked him, ‘Who else is aware of Heather being under the patio, Fred?’ His answer was instant: ‘Nobody. That’s a secret I’ve kept myself for eight years. And never told anybody … Anybody can say what they like about Rose, but she is a perfect mother … I mean, we both loved Heather. I love my wife as well. I don’t want to destroy the love that I had there, when I’ve destroyed one love already … I mean, Rose is not going to let me say to her, “I’ve strangled Heather”, without coming straight to the police. Don’t get Rose wrong. Rose lived by the law. Properly. I mean, I know she doesn’t like the law, but she will not have it broken.’ All the time he was disposing of Heather, he said, ‘All the time I’m thinking, “If Rose walks in, that’s it. I’m ’ad …”’

  In an effort to find out how much Rose did know about what had been going on and to establish the depth of her involvement, she was installed with Mae and Stephen in a series of police safe houses that had been fitted with surveillance equipment in and around Gloucester. Microphones had been hidden in the sofas and the ceilings. And although most of what was said was drowned out by music from the radio and soaps on the television, in two months she said nothing that was self-incriminating.

  The police continued digging. And over the days that followed, the skeletal remains of eight other young women were found under the ground at 25 Cromwell Street. Each one had been dismembered, decapitated, and in every set of remains bones were missing. The bones were embedded in black glutinous material quite different from the redder, undisturbed soil outside the obvious shaft which had been prepared.

  At twenty past five on the evening of Monday, 28 February, Day 5 of the inquiry, the remains of a person who was subsequently identified as Alison Chambers were found in the back garden at 25 Cromwell Street.

  At 9.00 p.m., also on Day 5 of the inquiry, the remains of a person who was subseqently identified as Shirley Robinson were found in the back garden at 25 Cromwell Street.

  At 11.47 a.m. on Day 10, Thérèse Siegenthaler’s remains were found in the cellar. It was a Saturday. The second Saturday of the inquiry. A service was in progress at the church next door.

  Three hours later Shirley Hubbard’s remains were unearthed close to what would come to be known as the Marilyn Monroe wall.

  The following day, Sunday, Day 11, Lucy Partington’s remains were found in the cellar in the morning at nine o’clock. Just under two hours later Juanita Mott’s remains were found under the stairs going into the cellar.

  The remains subsequently identified as Lynda Gough’s were found under the ground-floor bathroom area at Cromwell Street at 2.25 p.m. on Day 12.

  Carol Cooper’s remains were found in the back part of the cellar at ten past seven in the evening on Tuesday, 8 March, Day 13.

  *

  On Friday, 18 March, Rose West was moved to new accommodation
behind the country court room and police station at Dursley. She had to be moved at short notice to other police accommodation in Cheltenham when she was photographed coming out of the KwikSave supermarket in Dursley a week later. She used to read nearly every newspaper every day and point out to Mae the bits that were wrong in the stories.

  At twenty to four on the afternoon of Saturday, 23 April, she was arrested at the safe house in Hales Close in Cheltenham for the murder of Lynda Gough. She was interviewed by Detective Constable Stephen Harris and Detective Constable Barbara Harrison in the cells complex at Cheltenham police station the following evening. ‘Would you accept that the remains of Lynda Gough were found in your former home at 25 Cromwell Street, Gloucester, Mrs West?’ DC Harris asked her. ‘Would you accept that Lynda Gough lived in your house at 25 Cromwell Street, Gloucester, Mrs West? … Would you accept that, following the disappearance of Lynda Gough, you were seen wearing her slippers? … Would you accept that you seemingly told lies to Lynda Gough’s mother when she called to speak to you at 25 Cromwell Street, Gloucester, following the disappearance of her daughter? … Do you accept that you told Mrs Gough that her daughter had gone to Weston? … Were you told by your husband, Frederick West, to tell Mrs Gough that Lynda Gough had gone to Weston? … Were you threatened or pressurized in any way by your husband, Frederick West, to tell Mrs Gough that her daughter, Lynda Gough, had gone to Weston? … Was it your idea to tell Mrs Gough that her daughter, Lynda, had gone to Weston? … Would you accept that Mrs Gough pointed out to you that her daughter’s clothing was on your washing-line?’

  To all these questions her answer was the same: ‘No comment.’ She was charged with the murder of Lynda Gough and replied, ‘I’m innocent.’

  The next day, Monday, 25 April, Day 61, she was interviewed about a second murder. ‘Mrs West, would you accept that you have an unnatural interest in sex?’ DC Barbara Harrison asked her. ‘Do you accept that you have featured in sex sessions recorded on video tape? … Were you forced into making these sex videos, Mrs West? … Did your husband force you to make these sex videos, Mrs West? … The police are in possession of a copy of a videotape seized from your home at 25 Cromwell Street in 1992. This videotape depicts a female being tied to the ceiling area of a room and then abused by two men. Do you know the film I am talking about? … In the cellar area of your home at 25 Cromwell Street, Gloucester, there are two holes in the rafters. These seemingly are similar to the scene depicted in the film. Is that what those holes were used for, Mrs West? … Were any of the holes used to facilitate the torture of [victim’s name]? … Were any of those holes used to facilitate sex with [victim’s name]? … When you picked up Caroline Raine in the car with Fred, was that a practice session? Was that a practice session with her before you started killing people? … Had you done acts of lesbianism before Carol Raine? … Fred has told me that the incident with Caroline was a practice session. Is that right?’

  To all these questions she replied, ‘No comment.’ DC Harrison continued. ‘We also have some other videos seized from your house in 1992 and they could be described as porn videos. Did you get your ideas for sex from these porn videos? … Did you practise anything that you saw in the porn videos? … There are some unusual acts shown on the films, such as someone being tied up. Is that an idea that you got from a video? … One of the videos shows a woman seemingly in a cellar and she’s having sex with a black man and a white man and she doesn’t appear to be enjoying the experience at all times. Do you remember that video? … She is then whipped with I think you’d describe it as a cat-o’-nine-tails whip and whipped with a cloth. Do you remember that on the video? … Did you take ideas from that video and put them into practice in your own basement at 25 Cromwell Street? … Did you kill [victim’s name]? … Were you present when [victim’s name] was killed? … Was [victim’s name] tied up in your house in Cromwell Street? … Was she taken down to the basement and held there as a prisoner? … Did you tie her up? … Did you tie her hands with rope? … Did you tie her feet with rope? … Did Fred tie her up with rope? … Were you present when she was being tied up? … Did you gag her? … Did you put cloth round her face or over her eyes? … Did Fred put any cloth round her face or eyes? … Was she tortured while she was still alive? … Was she cut at all while she was still alive? … Did you take part in cutting her head off? … Did you take part in cutting her head off after she was dead? … Did you cut her legs? … Did you cut off her legs? … Did you cut off her arms? … Did Fred cut off her legs? … Were you forced to do any of these things to [victim’s name]? … Did you bury [victim’s name]? … Did you assist at the burial of [victim’s name]? … Did you dig the hole in your basement where [victim’s name] was buried? … Were you present when that hole was being dug? … Did Fred dig the hole? … Was the hole prepared already? … While [victim’s name] was still alive, did you cut her hands? … Did you cut her fingers? … Did you cut any part of her hand off? … Did you cut off her feet? … Did you cut off any part of her feet? … Did you cut off her toes? … Were you present while any of [victim’s name]’s fingers or toes were cut off by another person? … Were you forced to cut off [victim’s name]’s fingers or toes? … Some of [victim’s name]’s bones are missing. Can you explain what happened to them? … Did you assist in the disposal of any parts of her body? … Did you assist in the disposal of them in a place other than in your basement? … Fred has told us that he had control over you. I think the time is now if you could perhaps confirm that to us, if that is the case … We’ve spoken about some horrific things and we’ve heard some horrific things in these interviews and if there’s anything you can tell us which might help us understand what happened there, then we’d be grateful to you for an explanation. Is there anything you would like to tell us about your relationship with Fred and any force that may or may not have been used on you to perform any of these awful things?’

  She said nothing. She never said anything. If anybody grumbled at her, she’d hold herself tight. She wouldn’t make a conversation. She never had a lot to say, actually. She’d always hold herself. And to all these questions she replied, ‘No comment.’ A second charge of murder was added to the first charge of murdering Lynda Gough and she replied, ‘I’m innocent.’

  Apart from with her solicitor Leo Goatley and counsel preparing her defence, she refused to discuss any aspect of her past or her children or her relationship with her husband or their life together in the house or the women they were jointly accused of killing. Between 20 April 1994 and her trial in October 1995 she refused to say anything to anybody about anything. In fifty-nine interviews totalling almost fifty hours up to 2 June 1994, she said nothing but ‘No comment’. ‘I’m innocent’ when the charges were put to her – a total of ten charges of murder. Otherwise: ‘No comment.’

  She said nothing to anybody until the day came for her to give evidence in her own defence in number 3 court at the Crown Court in Winchester. She wore the black jacket and white shirt and long dark skirt that Mae had picked out for her and that she had worn every day of the trial. Clothes that made her indistinguishable from the female prison officers who sat either side of her in the dock. Women of a similar age and background who probably also brought knitting patterns and pictures of their grandchildren to court in their bags with them. She outdid them in the deference of her bows to the judge at the beginning and end of every session and by wearing a poppy in the week before Armistice Day. When the day came for her to cross the well of the court to the witness box she could be seen to be wearing tiny black-leather pixie boots with gold zips up the side and gold metal fasteners that moved with her body and clicked in the silence. She wept when she talked about being abandoned by her mother when she was fifteen and a half and she cried reflexively whenever Heather’s name was mentioned, poking a finger up behind her enormous glasses. Asked for her reaction to various atrocities, her answer more than once was: ‘Shock-horror.’ She had put on a considerable amount of weight in twenty months.


  Fred was dead by then. Fred had hanged himself. She had had no contact with Fred since the morning when he had told her that he would persuade Hazel Savage not to contact her mother and had picked up his prison lighter and gone out and sat in the car and turned to Hazel Savage and said, ‘I killed her.’ She had made no attempt to get in touch with him. He had written to her but she hadn’t acknowledged his letters. He had sent her messages through Stephen but she hadn’t responded to them.

  After his first admission that he had murdered Heather they didn’t see each other for four months. Then on 30 June 1994 they appeared together at Gloucester Magistrates Court. It was a small dock. He was brought from the cells first. When she was brought up she had to squeeze past him. He went to touch her but she recoiled. He reached out to touch her on the neck but she made it clear with her body that she didn’t want to know. It was a short hearing. Only a few minutes. He stood, slightly swaying. She sat and stared at the floor. When it was over he again made a move to touch her but the policewoman who had been put between them knocked his hand away.

  ‘Rose Luckd Well,’ he wrote to Stephen afterwards. ‘I have not herd Watt Rose Wanted to do With the House,’ he wrote in another letter. And in another: ‘That all you got of your pased … We had go time … all I Love and X.’ There was a PS. ‘I have got tobacco I need R6 battery get Rayovac VIDOR Longer Life alkaline.’

  Chapter Sixteen

  The extensions had been collapsed like boxes, which is what they were. They had been very easily demolished. The windows had been filled in with breezeblocks and the doors walled up. All the openings had been blocked and with number 23 adjoining also a void property the house looked like a box from all sides. Impenetrable then. Blank. As each site in the house had been excavated and the human remains removed, the cavity that was left had been filled with quick-drying concrete before another area was dug. Ready Mix road fill had been chosen because it was a highly fluid material which combined the benefits of high flowability with a controlled low strength. It was important to keep the house standing until it was time to pull it down.