Warning: This article contains content which some readers may find distressing
Newly found footage released in a Netflix documentary about Fred and Rose West includes an unsettling moment in which the famous serial killer shows police where he buried his daughter’s body.
The Netflix documentary, titled Fred and Rose West: A British Horror Story, is a three-episode deep dive into Fred and Rose West, two of the most infamous serial killers in British history. The pair raped, murdered, and buried an unknown number of women over a 20-year period ending in 1987.
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This culminated in Rose being arrested and charged with the murder of 10 girls and women. She is currently serving a life order for her crimes.
Fred was arrested and charged, however, he took his own life in prison in January of 1995.
Within the documentary is exclusive newly found footage, including audio recordings of police interviews with the pair, as well as videos of police digging up the pair’s back garden looking for bodies.
Nine sets of bones were found in their back garden following an investigation, including those of their daughter, Heather.
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Police had begun digging up the West’s back garden searching for Heather, who had been missing for seven years.
Reportedly, Fred would regularly joke to his other children that they shouldn’t misbehave lest they end up ‘in the patio like Heather’.
The documentary recounts how Fred spoke to police to confess, informing them that Heather’s body was there, but that they were digging in the wrong place.
An unsettling police recording in the Netflix documentary shows Fred walking into his back garden, leading police in their search.
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The serial killer had been assigned an ‘appropriate adult’ throughout his custody. Whilst normally assigned to those under 18 in lieu of parents or guardians, Fred was assigned one due to his illiteracy and the severity of the charges.
West’s appropriate adult, Janet Leach, spoke in the documentary, saying of Fred showing police where Heather was buried: “It was really strange. It was dark, it was raining. He was more upset about the state of his garden more so than anything.”
In the footage he is shown laughing and smiling, with Leach saying: “He just kept sort of looking at me and winking, as if it was some sort of game. When we got back, I went to him: ‘What did you mean, what was you looking at me like that for?’”
Leach said that Fred replied: “Didn’t you see that bone sticking out?”
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When she stated she didn’t see it, he said it was by the back door.
Ultimately, the body of Heather West was found in his back garden, along with eight other bodies.
Netflix’s new documentary contains over 50 hours of interrogations from 107 different police interviews, as well as footage of police digging up their garden.
Topics: Netflix, True Crime, TV and Film, TV, Documentaries
Michael Slavin