Fred West Investigations

[DareIask]

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

It will be very sad and shocking if they find Mary's body and it wasn't searched at the time despite her brother asking the police to search the site.

They must have an idea idea who else they killed as well as the people we know about. How many kissing women could there have been?

@Rubytinsleslippers

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.

The m8???

@Flaunch

They must have an idea idea who else they killed as well as the people we know about. How many kissing women could there have been?

Assuming there's a typo and you mean missing with this.. I think the issue is (even nowadays) there'll have been so many women who won't have been 'missed' sadly, runaways etc, sadly

I believe there were some higher profile cases that they believed were him, from long ago (as far back as the 60s) but as they've not found the women there's no evidence. I mean where do you even start to look.

Some of this goes back 60 odd years now (horribly) it's a mammoth task, which would cost huge amounts, and the perpetrator is dead anyway (or in prison in her case but hers were more recent they think). Not that that's any comfort to the poor families of the missing of course. But it's likely not considered to be in the public interest.

They were making the documentary about West. They were filming where I live not long before because they used to live here etc. I think family members were trying to get the documentary stopped.

@Kjr33 Yes, the M8. He lived in Glasgow in the 60s. The site which was the location of his allotment is now beneath the M8.

Oh I see there are similar rumours all over Gloucestershire about roads/houses etc that he might have worked on etc. It’s really sad for the family but his crimes went unknown for such a long time that short of digging up half of the city of Gloucester and the surrounding countryside (and Glasgow!) it’s impossible to know if there are more victims.

According to the podcast unheard the fred and rose west tapes (by the journalist who at the time worked for the daily mail) there were uneven gaps between the murders they were convicted of, which suggests they were killing but those women werent found, or even missed in the first place.

Her name was Mary Bastholm (if it is her).

@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.

My great uncle used to live in Gloucestershire and we would stay with him for our summer holidays in the 90's (I was born in 91 so was really young). I remember one year my mum making a big song and dance about us going to see Fred West's house and I never understood what the big deal was. I remember her pointing it out to us going "Look! There's Fred West's house!" Me and my sister were just I'm sure she took photos too

Years later when I discovered exactly who he was and what he had done, I was even more confused and grossed out at my mums excitement of it It's fucking horrific and I can't imagine what the families of the victims felt at that time, with people turning up like that and taking photos FFS.

I am watching this so closely. I didn't know Mary but did know her boyfriend and his mother. They were distraught when she disappeared. i say them on the day after. i hope they can lay her to rest.

@NerrSnerr

They were making the documentary about West. They were filming where I live not long before because they used to live here etc. I think family members were trying to get the documentary stopped.

Which family members? The victims family members?

So sad for the family especially if the police were unable to carry out the search despite family knowing she’s probably there.
I also feel sad for the cafe owners, what a year they’ve had and now this.

I remember one year my mum making a big song and dance about us going to see Fred West's house and I never understood what the big deal was. I remember her pointing it out to us going "Look! There's Fred West's house!"

This talk just reminds me of how weird it is really that we have Jack The Ripper tours and a gift shop! I can't imagine there being the same for The Yorkshire Ripper.. it's bizarre really, imagine magnets and T-shirt's for him, people would be aghast in horror.

Unfortunately, most of the victims were runaways, girls in care, unsettled and troubled. Heartbreaking, really.

@Handsoffstrikesagain
I just had a look at the gift shop out of interest..

You can even buy Jack The Ripper erasers and pencil toppers!? WTF!

https://www.jacktherippermuseumshop.com/stationery

@stillreallytired

Unfortunately, most of the victims were runaways, girls in care, unsettled and troubled. Heartbreaking, really.

It's so sad that this is most likely the case why they weren't reported missing etc.

I've never understood the ghoulish need that some people have to treat murder sites like a tourist attraction - Jack the Ripper being the main one. Some people forget the victims are real and not just a story in the papers. I also think there is a weird thing where if a death is historical and less recent, that it almost becomes public property. I was watching on tv about a burial site that had been dug up by archaeologists and wondered why it's deemed okay and not disrespectful to dig someone up from their final resting place if they've been dead for centuries but it would be against the law to dig someone up who died ten years ago - they are both still human brings who deserve dignity. It's weird.

@Magicpaintbrush

I've never understood the ghoulish need that some people have to treat murder sites like a tourist attraction - Jack the Ripper being the main one. Some people forget the victims are real and not just a story in the papers. I also think there is a weird thing where if a death is historical and less recent, that it almost becomes public property. I was watching on tv about a burial site that had been dug up by archaeologists and wondered why it's deemed okay and not disrespectful to dig someone up from their final resting place if they've been dead for centuries but it would be against the law to dig someone up who died ten years ago - they are both still human brings who deserve dignity. It's weird.

We had this conversation the other day during a doc about Egyptian pharaohs and the pyramids. I agree it's no different whether the graves are 10 years old or 10 centuries old

@Kjr33 yes, he was in Glasgow for a while in the 60's. His first wife Rena was from Glasgow. He claimed he ran ice cream / drugs in Glasgow and did kill a child whilst driving an ice cream van in an accident ( ?).

[quote covetingthepreciousthings]@Handsoffstrikesagain
I just had a look at the gift shop out of interest..

You can even buy Jack The Ripper erasers and pencil toppers!? WTF!

[[https://www.jacktherippermuseumshop.com/stationery]][/quote]
It's this kind of thing which makes more of the murderer than the victims which is abhorrent. It's why the police nowadays are asking journalists not to give these monsters nicknames.

It's why the police nowadays are asking journalists not to give these monsters nicknames.

As well as this I've noticed more recently that press coverage is leaning towards the main pictures being of the victim rather than the murderer, sad that it's taken this long for the press to do this though.