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Original poster

Fred West Investigations

75 replies

DareIask · 18/05/2021 12:04

News this morning that the police are investigating 6 voids under the cafe.

How awful for the families of the missing.

I don't know much about it but wonder why this wasn't investigated before

OP posts:
IndecentCakes · 18/05/2021 12:06

I'm interested, too. Also always wondered about the allotment that is now under a motorway.

Original poster
DareIask · 18/05/2021 13:15

Oh I didn't know there were questions about an allotment.

Dread to think what they'll find.. there could be more I guess.

OP posts:
Brogues · 18/05/2021 13:30

I hope it leads to some closure for some of the families of missing loved ones. It’s so sad though.

newnortherner111 · 18/05/2021 13:36

I hope the site does not become a tourist attraction in the way that Cromwell Street was when the house was searched in 1994 or so.

TokyoSushi · 18/05/2021 13:40

It seems to have been discovered by a team making a documentary who alerted the police. It's awful to think how many crimes he committed that they haven't found but hopefully this might give the family some closure as it seems fairly likely that something will be found.

VeganVeal · 18/05/2021 13:59

@newnortherner111

I hope the site does not become a tourist attraction in the way that Cromwell Street was when the house was searched in 1994 or so.
Yes I remember the Cromwell street tours around that time, there was even a sort of gift/memento stall, awful
Rubytinsleslippers · 18/05/2021 14:06

There were rumours of so many more victims. The problem was always going to be that unless Fred or Rose gave a specific location the police wouldn't know where to dig. The victims they did find were so extreme and evolved in the torture / bondage that the police were always clear there would be many more 'less extreme' victims to be found. Unfortunately the M8 was built over one of his earlier known allotments, so who knows how long it will take to get peace for those families. Horrendous.

stuckinarutatwork · 18/05/2021 14:06

I read that Mary's brother had asked the police to investigate this site previously in the 1990s, but they refused due to lack of evidence (the brother knew that Fred was carrying out building work here around the time that Mary disappeared).

SingToTheSky · 18/05/2021 14:30

@newnortherner111

I hope the site does not become a tourist attraction in the way that Cromwell Street was when the house was searched in 1994 or so.
That’s awful :(

It must be terrible to have everything dragged up again but hopefully it will give closure.

I don’t really understand how they didn’t do this search at the time. A BBC article said something about blue material but how was that not found back then.

SingToTheSky · 18/05/2021 14:31

Ah I didn’t refresh my screen.

vivariumvivariumsvivaria · 18/05/2021 14:33

I don't understand this, had a look on twitter and it seems to be saying that the BBC have been making a documentary and have figured out where someone has been buried?

If the BBC could follow up what the poor woman's family reported at the time then why didn't the police?

I hope I never find out what that feels like.

TheQueef · 18/05/2021 14:38

I got the impression when Fred killed himself, the investigations seemed to stop.
I've often wondered why, as it's commonly believed Rose was his accomplice, they didn't go after her.
Maybe the pre Rose crimes just aren't linked properly.

Rubytinsleslippers · 18/05/2021 15:12

Apparently Rose refuses to talk. She's in prison so what else can they threaten her with? She put all blame on Fred from the very first, even though he was in prison when she killed Charmaine, he did dispose of her body. So, if she still refuses to give any information what can police do?

Handsoffstrikesagain · 19/05/2021 13:14

This reply has been withdrawn

This has been withdrawn by MNHQ at the poster's request.

EsmaCannonball · 19/05/2021 14:41

We're often told that young white women going missing sucks up too much press attention and police time but, apart from a few high-profile cases, it obviously isn't true. Just think how many lives could have been saved and how much trauma averted if the police hadn't just shrugged off the cases of Fred West's early victims. There seems to be a kind of institutional inertia over crimes that couldn't be more serious.

MorrisZapp · 19/05/2021 14:46

There was a journalist on the radio yesterday who believes there are more than forty more victims.

Chicchicchicchiclana · 19/05/2021 15:03

"I read that Mary's brother had asked the police to investigate this site previously in the 1990s, but they refused due to lack of evidence (the brother knew that Fred was carrying out building work here around the time that Mary disappeared)."

How shocking if true. Were the BBC there making a documentary about West himself or was it pure coincidence that this came up?

VeganVeal · 19/05/2021 15:36

@Chicchicchicchiclana

"I read that Mary's brother had asked the police to investigate this site previously in the 1990s, but they refused due to lack of evidence (the brother knew that Fred was carrying out building work here around the time that Mary disappeared)."

How shocking if true. Were the BBC there making a documentary about West himself or was it pure coincidence that this came up?

I think they were just making a documentary on Gloucester cafes and someone noticed a sliver of something blue in the toilet and thought it might be connected to an unsolved disappearance of over 50 years ago, but I'm not sure?
Mydogisagentleman · 19/05/2021 15:48

I heard Fred West’s biographer on the radio saying that he had told him the number of people he killed was 40.
fWs son said that he had confessed to him about his involvement in her death.

randomkey123 · 19/05/2021 15:54

We live locally and my uncle was a bricklayer who had worked on several sites with Fred West over the years. He was a really odd bloke, apparently, and my uncle commented at the time that he once worked on a house with a massive well in the garden that West had shown huge interest in.

Most local opinion is that he had the opportunity to bury a lot more bodies than those already discovered, sadly.

Eachpeachpears · 19/05/2021 15:59

Unfortunately this topic is very close to home for me, a close relative worked on the case at the time (and suffers PTSD as a result)
The police didn't investigate the site previously as the girl had been home from work before leaving again and then disappeared. She was on her way to a boyfriends house I believe so her journey at the time had no link to the site.
I hope the family are coping as well as they can with this new search.
It's put a horrible feeling in the air locally

lucyslocketinherpocket · 19/05/2021 17:10

Ugh it's just horrifying isn't it. Those poor poor women.

This is the first 'big' news story I remember reading as a child in the newspaper and my mother was horrified and took Dad's paper off of me (I'd have only have been about 10). I'd read enough that it played on my mind for ages and gave me nightmares.

Absolute animals.

CatrinVennastin · 19/05/2021 17:41

My uni friend moved to Gloucester for her first job after graduation and rented a flat which turned out to be a few streets away from Cromwell Road.

She told me that people came for tours of the area. We always thought that was in such bad taste.

I just watched the Netflix doc about the Yorkshire ripper and some of his early victims who survived found out he wasn’t to be charged with attacking them.

I think once the police have the perpetrator behind bars they are not really interested in looking much further than that.

stuckinarutatwork · 19/05/2021 18:17

@Chicchicchicchiclana I believe they were making a documentary specifically about West 

Chicchicchicchiclana · 19/05/2021 19:29

In that case it's alarming that there are further police investigations based on this. Why wasn't the cafe searched at the time. If the BBC documentary team knew there was something to investigate there, why didn't the police?