How many children did Fred and Rose West have and what happened to them? All we know amid documentary release

The Netflix documentary, "Fred and Rose West: A British Horror Story," which premiered on Netflix on 14 May, traces the unimaginable horrors that Fred and Rose inflicted on the ten children they shared from the 1970s until their arrest in 1994. Their surviving children now lead a quiet life away from the prying eyes of the public.

Fred and Rose West, who were once dubbed "two of the UK's most prolific murderers," met in 1969 and went on to commit crimes, individually as well as together. Apart from the murder of their own two children, the couple was also involved in the murder of ten other women over the span of thirty years.

More about Fred and Rose West's children, as Netflix documentary brings up the horrifying details of their ordeal

Before Fred West's marriage to Rosemary Pauline Letts, as she was earlier known, he was first married to Catherine Costello in November 1972. At that time, Costello was already pregnant with Charmaine, who was born in March 1963. Charmaine was said to be of mixed ethnicity, with her biological father being South Asian.

Just a year later, in July 1964, the couple welcomed their first biological child, Anna Marie. In the following years, Fred West became increasingly violent, causing Costello to leave, but she did so with the promise that she would soon take her children with her. After this, Fred West began a relationship with Rose Letts, and this is when the reign of terror began.

According to the Daily Mail, Rose was initially affectionate towards two of Fred's children from his previous marriage. However, she soon turned violent when Charmaine and Anna Marie were left in her sole care while Fred was imprisoned for theft. During this time, Rose gave birth to her first child, a daughter, Heather Ann, and continued to subject the two children to beatings and was especially cruel towards Charmaine, who always maintained an indomitable spirit in the face of adversity.

In 1971, before Fred was released from prison, Charmaine was seen alive for the last time. It is not known exactly when she was murdered, but in 1994 her remains were found in the garden of the former West family home, dubbed by the media as "the house of horrors."

Anna Marie West, who now goes by the name of Anna Marie Davis, now bore the full brunt of the physical and emotional abuse following her sister's murder. According to Cosmopolitan, after Fred's release from prison, Anna suffered years of brutal physical assault and harassment from both of her parents, particularly her mother, who was known for her temper. Anna Marie's testimony was crucial in Rose West's conviction in 1995. Little is known about her present life after the trial, but according to the Daily Mail, Anna Marie is now married and lives a quiet life in Gloucester, far away from the spotlight.

Heather Ann West experienced continued violence from both of her parents from an early age. According to Cosmopolitan, while at school, the marks of the physical abuse inflicted on her were noticed by many, although in the end, none of it was properly reported to the child care services.

In 1987, just like Charmaine West, Heather Ann just disappeared without any prior notice. Her other siblings were informed that she had left after receiving a job offer. However, the sixteen-year-old child was brutally murdered by her parents, although the exact details of the murder remain unknown.

According to the Daily Mail, the changing stories as to what happened to their daughter prompted the local authorities to start their investigation in 1992. Later, in 1994, her body was discovered in the same house where eight-year-old Charmaine's body was also found.

Mae West, who was born in 1972, also suffered the same abuse as her other siblings. In 2018, she wrote a book titled, "Love as Always, Mum xxx: The True and Terrible Story of Surviving Childhood with Fred and Rose West," that details the horrific expiriences she and her siblings suffered in their childhood. She previously maintained correspondence with her mother.

In an interview with the Daily Mail, Mae West spoke about the lasting impact of the past and how it still affects her family.

"I worry about people knowing or discovering who I am. And I have all these anxieties about my son finding out about his grandparents. My daughter is grown up now and she knows and has dealt with it. She discovered her uncle’s credit card has the name West on it, put two and two together and Googled it. I wish she hadn’t found out that way."

Fred and Rose West's first son, Stephen West, who was born in 1983, endured regular physical punishments from his father. He now lives in Gloucester and is married with two children, according to the Daily Mail. The next five children born to the family were allegedly fathered by unknown men during Rose's work as a s*x worker. All of them were placed in foster care in the hopes that they could start their life afresh.

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Among them, Tara and Louise West, who were born in 1977 and 1978, respectively, now live lives of anonymity. One of the West siblings, Barry West, passed away at the age of forty in 2020 from an apparent suicide. Little is known about Rosemary Junior West and Lucyanna West, who were very young when their parents were arrested. According to Daily Mail, they too were not only placed in the foster care system but were also given a new identity to help them begin their lives anew.

The initial case against the couple collapsed in 1993 after Anna Marie refused to testify in court. Later, in January 1995, before the trial could take place, Fred West committed suicide while in prison. In November of the same year, Rose West was convicted of ten murders and sentenced to life in prison.

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