Fred West in His Own Words: Excerpts from the 1994 Gloucestershire Police Interviews

Name: Fred West in His Own Words: Excerpts from the 1994 Gloucestershire Police Interviews
Uploaded: 2021-05-28
Description: About six and a half minutes of Fred West's own voice from his 1994 police interviews: his arrest, a dismemberment, and his later claim that Rose West killed Heather.

About six and a half minutes of Fred West's own voice from his 1994 police interviews: his arrest, a dismemberment, and his later claim that Rose West killed Heather.

Subject: Fred West
Recorded: about June 1994
Runtime: 7:40 (West's voice about 0:28 to 7:20, roughly six and a half minutes)

Content warning: West describes dismembering a body and speaks about the murders of his daughter Heather and of Lynda Gough; the page refers to the murders of young women and girls, including his own daughter and stepdaughter. Strong language in the audio.

The Interview

In February 1994 Gloucestershire Police began digging in the garden of 25 Cromwell Street, Gloucester, looking for Fred West's daughter Heather, who had not been seen since 1987. West went to the police station and was arrested; over the following months detectives interviewed him many times on tape. This upload joins short excerpts from those recordings, about six and a half minutes of West's own voice, with music added by the uploader. West describes hearing that the police were digging the garden, a feeling in the interview room of his head "lifting up", and cutting up a body. In the later passages he tells a different story, claiming that his wife, Rose West, killed Heather and Lynda Gough and told him afterwards.

Historical Context

Fred West was born at Much Marcle, Herefordshire, in 1941. Between 1967 and 1987 he and, from the early 1970s, his second wife Rosemary (Rose) West killed young women and girls in and around Gloucester. Victims were buried in the cellar, bathroom and garden of 25 Cromwell Street, at the couple's earlier home in Midland Road, and in fields near Much Marcle. Fred West was charged with 12 murders, among them his daughter Heather, killed in 1987 aged 16; his stepdaughter Charmaine, killed in 1971 aged 8; his first wife, Rena Costello, killed in 1971; and Anne McFall, who disappeared in 1967. Lynda Gough, whom West names in this recording, was 19 when she was killed in 1973.

Circumstances

Police obtained a warrant to search the Cromwell Street garden on February 24, 1994. Detective Constable Hazel Savage, whom West mentions by surname, had pursued the question of Heather's whereabouts. West was arrested on February 25, 1994, and the same day confessed to killing Heather, saying Rose knew nothing of it. As more remains were found, he admitted further killings. After he and Rose appeared in court together on June 30, 1994, he withdrew his confessions to acting alone and blamed Rose for almost all of the deaths. On January 1, 1995, while on remand at HM Prison Birmingham (Winson Green), West took his own life. He was never tried.

What the Interview Covers

The excerpts are not in an order that can be confirmed. West protests that the police "got the killing wrong" and says a death was an accident ("enjoyment turned to disaster"); this is his claim. He describes being told the police were digging the garden, going to the station, and a sensation in the interview room of "going sort of into space". In a long passage he describes looking for a knife, rejecting an axe, and cutting up a body; the victim is not named in the excerpt. He speaks of wanting to "give myself up" and says, "I have mixed it up deliberately for the police." In the final third he gives his later version: that Rose told him Heather was buried in the garden and had been cut up because "she wouldn't fit in the dustbin", that Rose had killed Lynda Gough and worn her clothes, and that Rose told him where the bodies in the cellar were. He says he planned what he would "tell the police".

What Makes the Recording Significant

Because West died before trial, his police interviews are the main record of his account of the murders in his own voice. This edit lets listeners hear both of his stories: the early admissions and the later attempt to put the blame on Rose. Neither should be taken at face value. In November 1995, at Winchester Crown Court, a jury convicted Rose West of ten murders, including Heather and Lynda Gough. Fred West's later claim that he knew nothing until she told him is contradicted by his own first confession, in which he said he had killed Heather himself.

Archival Importance

The West interview tapes run to many hours and have seldom been broadcast. Gloucestershire Police took legal action over Channel 5's 2001 documentary series that used them, claiming contempt of court and breach of copyright; the series was broadcast after the Attorney General declined to proceed.

Important Caveats

Everything West says is his own account, and much of it is untrue or self-serving: he lied to police, changed his story, and later retracted his confessions to acting alone. His claims that Rose acted without him, and that he learned of the killings from her, are contradicted by his own earlier admissions and were not tested in court because he died before trial. The upload is a third-party edit: the music, greeting and any on-screen captions are the uploader's, the excerpts are joined from different interviews, and their order may not reflect the order in which West said them. Several passages are hard to make out and are marked unclear in the transcript.

Channel Greeting: Hello, this is UK PI. How can I help you? [Music, about 0:08 to 0:28]

Fred West: Yeah, see, you even got the killing wrong. You're trying to make out I just went out and blatantly killed somebody. No, nobody [unclear: "went to help" / "went too well"]. Enjoyment turned to disaster, [unclear: "that's what happened, all, or most of it anyway" / "that's where I don't know all that, most of"]. [unclear: "What rules run me at work" (Whisper only; possibly "Rose rang me at work")], in the middle of the day, and said the police were digging the garden up, [unclear: "come on, quick" / "come home quick"]. So anyway, I [unclear: "got old" (both sources); possibly "got home"]. Anyway, Savage come, and I went down to the police station. I mean, I had nothing to bloody hide.

Fred West: When I walked in here, I sat down there, and I could feel my head, like, lifting up, and I was going sort of into space. And I could see diggers and everything all [unclear: "ploughing" / "flowing"] around, and ripping out something, tearing the floorboards up and bulldozing the [unclear: "outstanding"], it was all weird, and I couldn't, I could see it all in my mind, and everything was gone wrong. I mean, I don't know what, I can't, I've been trying, I've been trying to explain [unclear: "to anyone" / "the feeling"] what happened. I don't know if it was [unclear: "a pill or something, that's the only thing I can think it was" / "the pills and that's something I can think of"], and I've done nothing else.

Fred West: You know what, I look straight across and I can see her. I think she's in a plastic bag, I think. You could actually see it in the corner. See, there's a big hollowing behind it. If you look underneath this step, you can see straight underneath, there's a big hole. I mean, I can undo three-quarter nuts without a spanner, when we've just locked them on, turned them on, and I can do them. I mean, I've been squeezed [unclear: "by the screws in the neck" / "out of school with a neck" / "right square to the neck"]. I mean, I was, before [unclear: "the end" / "today"], I mean, I haven't gone, you know, gone that quick. I mean, you know, it's surprising how long somebody can hold you around the neck before, before you, uh, you know, [unclear: "leave that and lose some eyes" / "we left to do some ice cream"].

Fred West: I looked around everywhere trying to find a knife [unclear: "for a summer" / "for summer"]. I mean, I looked at the axe, I had a chop, axe chop, and I, I mean, I've got no way I could touch it, [unclear: "to touch away, not that case"], I wouldn't think about that. I just couldn't, I just couldn't do it. So I looked up and I see this knife sticking out. It's got like two prongs on the end, two sharp points come out on the end of it, and then it got big serrated edges all along it. [unclear: "It's all" / "You saw"] blocks of ice with. And I got that and I tried it with the big ones first. And it was terrible. I was sweating, [unclear: "I'm just about everything going on at this time" / "on just about everything's going on this time"].

Fred West: So I finally managed to do it, to take [unclear: "red" (both sources); probably "'er 'ead", her head] off, and then her legs. That was unbearable. I mean, I can hear that now in my sleep. I wake up [unclear: "my health and scream" / "very well from screaming"] and I can hear that, that [unclear: "go in" / "coming"]. That's easy. She's looking at me, I thought, you know, [unclear: "it's simple, isn't it? Somebody's looking at you" / "at some point somebody said they're looking at"], and you're not going to use a knife [unclear: "for a person" / "he was an iphone person"], are you? You know, I just went like that and [unclear: "really closed your eyes" / "close your eyes"] and [unclear: "the estate shut" / "they stay chilling"]. [unclear: "That was that" / "How was that"].

Fred West: You know, I mean, where's this going to end? And by this time, I am realising that that is three. Two. So that's two, three. That was, surely, where is, where is this going to stop? You know, I [unclear: "have got" / "don't got"] to stop. I [unclear: "get" / "don't get"] to give myself up. I've got to tell Rose so she can get [unclear: "some help" / "somebody to help, help"], so that I don't do this thing again, because the problem I've got. I know I've got. And I know it's a problem, and I, I knew I should have got [unclear: "out with it" / "help with it"]. Now, I mean, yeah, this is where we've got hell of a problem. We've got to get it all out, sort it out, because I have mixed it up deliberately for the police.

Fred West: She said, um, [unclear: "I think there's a piss wall out there. What are you worried about?" / "I think was this piss wall out there, wait, wherever"]. And then she said, "Oh yeah, there is." And I can remember taking a breath and swallowing it. And I said, "What the fuck do you mean?" She said, "Heather's out there." Well, I mean, I just [unclear: "drugged" / "struck"] and died for a minute. You know what, I sat down and I got a fag and I was trying to light it and [unclear: "got in as well" / "corners what"]. So I thought, I said, "What do you mean, Heather's out there?" She said, "Yeah, Heather's buried out there." So I said, "Where?" She said, "At the end of the fence, where the fence used to go across." And I said, "Right. Fucking hell."

Fred West: It seemed as though my whole life stopped there, finished. You know, and I couldn't think of nothing. I mean, Heather, I mean, I thought the bloody world of Heather. [unclear: "Show you" / "Sorry"], I got to grips with it after a while, and the first thing that's come into my mind was, I'm going to have to take this and sort it out, which I did. All the messes Rose got herself into, I took the [unclear: "looking" (both sources)] rap for [unclear: "him" (both sources); possibly "her"] and helped [unclear: "him" (both sources); possibly "her"]. So anyway, I said, "You'll have to tell me exactly what happened." She said that [unclear: "Heather" / "um, and it"] was cut up.

Fred West: Well, I never felt so ill in all my life, for a few seconds, a few minutes, before I could get a grip on myself again. And I said, "What on earth did you cut her up for?" She said, "She wouldn't fit in the dustbin." And the thing that makes it hard, that she [unclear: "cut Heather" / "could end her up"] and [unclear: "shook" (both sources); possibly "shoved"] her in a fucking dustbin. Her daughter, in a dustbin.

Fred West: She said, uh, "What about Lynda Gough?" I said, "You bitch." Because I'd already, whenever she said that, I realised that I, I thought, fuck me, she'd killed her and had her fucking clothes on. She was wearing the girl's shoes, and she'd killed her, for fuck's sake. And her dressing gown. I mean, how fucking far can you go? You know, I said, "You wore her fucking clothes after you killed her." She said, "I watched it." Fucking hell, what are you?

Fred West: I am working out what I'm going to tell the police. [unclear: "I won't go and handle it" / "I won't gonna handle it"]. Right? One body, fully clothed, [unclear: "or I thought, in the first place" / "or I thought at the first night"]. But by now I know it's cut up, so I'm going to have to [unclear: "make her think out" / "make it think about that"], why the bloody hell did I [unclear: "cut her up" / "cover up"]? I mean, what reason for that did I cut this girl up? That's why I said, well, at least it's only one. I said, so, you know, I mean, you could, um, accidentally kill one, but I mean, I wouldn't get away with accidentally killing two, that sort of thing. That's the thought [unclear: "going through my mind, like" / "going through behind mine, like"].

Fred West: So I said, "Well, is that it?" [unclear: "I wonder what she said" / "Oh no, she said"], "Well, I don't know, seven or eight, nine," something like that. So anyway, Rose told me where the ones in the basement was. I said to Rose, I said, "Well, fuck me, [unclear: "they hadn't done bad at it" / "then I'm done by that"]." I said, "That's fucking ..."

Unidentified: You know, you've got to [unclear: "fuck enough" / "go to [masked word] enough"], you're [unclear: "in here" / "on here"].

Channel Sign-Off: Until the next time, [unclear: "take care" / "thank you"]. [Outro music to 7:40] ---