She was found dead twenty seven years later, but baby daddy was not charged due to a lack of evidence. People in the neighborhood seemed to know the family was not normal yet nobody including police did anything for years even though Fred already had a criminal record. The violence was sometimes irrational, indiscreet or just inflicted for Rose's gratification; she always took great care not to mark the children's faces or hands in these assaults.

Any ordinary man would have given the child some ice cream, but instead he smashed her round the head with his hand . The room Rose used for prostitution was known throughout the West household as "Rose's Room", and had several hidden peepholes allowing Fred—a longtime voyeur—to watch her entertain her clients. Her father was schizophrenic and her mother was a manic depressive who received shock treatment; what a family tree! I read mainly Mysteries and Thrillers, with over half of my reads being Advanced Reader Copies (ARCs) directly from the publisher/author. I certainly couldn't put it down; and annoyed almost everyone around me by attempting to engage in conversation based on Fred and Rose.In another instance, McLachlan witnessed Charmaine—little older than a toddler—ask Fred for an ice cream from his van; in response, Fred struck her across the head, triggering another beating from McLachlan. Howard Sounes is a journalist, he covered the story when it broke and the trial of Rosemary West, much of the information in this book is from that.

To me this doesn’t take into account that his father and brother John are alleged to have shown similar sexual tendencies. This explanation is inconsistent with the fact that her wrists were found with sections of dressing gown cord wrapped around them, suggesting she had been restrained prior to her murder. I first heard of the Wests when the Appropriate Adult mini-series/movie came on cable here in the US. My friend has said there is a book looking at it from the point of view that Rose is innocent, so that will make for an interesting read. Letters McFall posted to her family and McNeill in Glasgow between 1966 and 1967 indicate she believed a relationship with Fred could offer her a better life than that she had experienced in Scotland, and she tried to persuade Fred to divorce his wife and marry her.The couple initially lived in Fred's aunt's home, then moved to Coatbridge, where Fred worked as an ice cream van driver. After the rape, Rose followed Anna Marie to the bathroom and handed her a sanitary towel, explaining to the child: "I'm sorry. But of course one of the more unique and sinister aspects to this story is the vital role played by Rose West, unlike in most other similar scenarios, she was no innocent victim swept up in the madness and chaos, but instead she was actually a motivating force behind much if not most of it, a domineering figure with terrifying and violent mood swings which inevitably led to the death of various young women and children. Running 385 pages, the content of the book is the most disturbing and graphic I have encountered, so therefore I would not recommend this book to the fainthearted amongst us. Her limbs had been carefully disarticulated, and many phalanges (finger bones) were missing from her body—likely to have been retained as keepsakes; her unborn child may also have been cut from her womb.