The daughter of serial killers Fred and Rose West has revealed what it was like to grow up in the "house of horrors" where numerous women were murdered and buried in the backyard.
In an emotional interview, Mae West (not her real name) revealed that she fears her murderer parents may have killed up to 30 people, as well as alleging that her father had sexually assaulted her when she was a child.
Fred West was an English serial killer who committed at least 12 murders between 1967 and 1987 in Gloucestershire, the majority with his second wife, Rosemary West. All of the victims were women and their deaths included rape, bondage, torture and mutilation.
Rosemary is currently serving a life sentence in prison, convicted for her part in 10 murders, while her former husband was found hanged in his jail cell in 1995.
Speaking to Good Morning Britain's Susanna Reid, Mae West spoke about the strange happenings that would often go on in the home dubbed "the house of horrors", claiming she assumed her parents were "doing things".
"[They would be in] the basement, locking us in. That was obviously times they were doing things," West's daughter said, adding that she was given a pot to keep next to her bed, the lightbulbs would be taken out and the door would be locked.
She said: "I don’t know (how many)– they do say they never stopped. I was really young, it was the Seventies, we had tenants it was normal to see people coming in and out. With Heather [her 17-year-old sister who was the couple's final known murder victim], we thought she ran away. I used to think everything they did was strange. That must have been when they were doing things. 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."
Mae West continued to admit that she believes there are many more victims of the horrifying killings which took place between 1967 and 1987, the majority at the couple's home, 25 Cromwell Street in Gloucester. When asked if it was likely her parents killed more than thirty – Mae said "yeah".
In addition, the unidentified daughter spoke of her father's treatment of her, naming it "sometimes funny, but definitely strange".
"Definitely sexual abuse," she said. "If you knew he was coming, you’d make sure you had jeans on, go to bed fully dressed or get up early in the morning and get dressed before because he’d try to come into the room as you were dressing."
On TV, Mae confessed she and her siblings would have been better left on the street than in the house, as she believed they could have all been killed by their father.
"I think so, any of us, really. If we’d seen anything, maybe," she said. "I don’t tend to think too much about it. I do think [home is] the place where you’re meant to be safest, I feel we’d be better if we were left on the street. We weren’t safe in that house."
Nowadays, Mae is happily married with two children, but, of course, her family history still haunts her to this day. Telling Good Morning Britain that her 23-year-old daughter was once at a Halloween party in the past where two partygoers were dressed as Fred and Rose West, she said: [My daughter] has never really talked about it.... she just said 'oh you'll never guess what, they came as your mum and dad' and got on with it."
However, she also claimed her younger son is not aware of his family history, saying: "He has never really asked me... I definitely want to wait until he is older."
