What Did Fred and Rose West Do? What to Know About Britain's Most Notorious Serial Killer Couple and Their Shocking Murder Spree

Fred and Rose West spent years committing some of the most horrific crimes in British history, cementing their place among England’s most infamous serial killer duos.

Over the course of two decades, the husband and wife duo sexually abused and murdered at least 10 young girls, including two of their own children. While maintaining an ordinary façade on the outside, they were hiding a house of horrors at their home on 23 Cromwell Street in Gloucester, England.

As time went on and more people joined their long list of victims, Fred and Rose’s crimes would eventually catch up to them — with one half of the serial killer duo still facing the consequences today.

Now, Netflix’s Fred and Rose West: A British Horror Story, which premiered on May 14, is pulling back the curtains on the years the husband-wife serial killer duo spent murdering and abusing at least a dozen young women — and the investigation that finally brought it to an end.

So, what did Fred and Rose West do? Here’s everything to know about Britain’s most notorious serial killer couple.

Rose was a nanny to Fred’s children before they began dating

Before meeting Rose, Fred was previously married to Catherine “Rena” Costello, whom he wed in 1962 and later became one of his victims. Years later, he met Rose while standing at a bus stop in Cheltenham, England. She was 15 years old at the time, while Fred was 27 and a father of two.

Shortly after connecting with Fred, Rose began working as a nanny to his daughters, and it was only a matter of time until things turned romantic between the pair. In 1972, Fred and Rose got married.

Their murder spree began in 1971

Fred had allegedly committed several crimes before ever meeting Rose, from his 13-year-old sister Kitty accusing him of raping and impregnating her to murdering his nanny, Ann McFall, per Fred and Rose: The Full Story of Fred and Rose West and the Gloucester House of Horrors. He also murdered his first wife, Costello.

But after meeting Rose, his crimes escalated, and the two became partners in a series of horrific acts. Shortly before they wed, Fred and Rose began a murder spree, during which they tortured and killed several people.

They sexually assaulted and killed at least 10 women and girls

Fred and Rose’s killing spree spanned decades, leaving behind a trail of at least 10 victims. The pair had a specific fixation on sex involving bondage and brutality, and often preyed on vulnerable young women by luring them in under the guise of offering work as a nanny for their children before subjecting them to disturbing abuse.

While they might have had many more victims, Fred and Rose are known to have been involved in the murders of eight women and girls — Lynda Gough, Carole Ann Cooper, Lucy Partington, Therese Siegenthaler, Shirley Hubbard, Juanita Mott, Shirley Anne Robinson and Alison Chambers — between 1973 and 1979.

Most of the women suffered torture and sexual assault before being killed. Per CNN, Fred and Rose would dismember their victims’ bodies before burying them in the garden of their home.

Their nine children were also victims of their abuse, and two were killed

Fred and Rose were parents to daughters Charmaine, Heather, Anna Marie, Mae, Tara, Louise, Rosemary Jr. and Lucyanna and sons Stephen and Barry.

Fred and Rose’s children were also subject to their abuse, leading them to end up at the hospital 31 times between 1972 and 1992, per The Independent. According to the outlet, none resulted in a referral to social services.

Among their children, the couple were both involved in killing Charmaine and Heather.

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The former was Costello’s daughter from a previous relationship, but Fred raised her as his own. According to BBC, Rose killed Charmaine in 1971 while Fred was in prison for car theft. Upon his release, he buried her body beneath the kitchen window at the couple’s home, per the outlet.

Years later, the pair were responsible for killing their daughter Heather in 1987, which would also be Fred and Rose’s final known murder.

After years of subjecting her and her sister, Mae, to horrific sexual abuse, as detailed in Rose West: The Making of a Monster, Heather allegedly confided in friends at school, which angered her parents.

She then dropped out of school and began applying for jobs to get away from her parents. The day after she was rejected for a job as a resort maid, her parents killed and buried her under the patio while her siblings were at school.

They were arrested in 1994

After Heather was murdered, Fred turned his abuse toward his daughter Louise — which marked the beginning of what would lead to them being caught and held accountable for their years of crimes.

Louise eventually confided in a friend, whose mother then made an anonymous report to police. According to Fred and Rose, Louise made a statement to police, and investigators also reached out to interview Anna Marie, who additionally detailed the abuse she had faced while living with her father and stepmother.

Medical examinations confirmed the children’s abuse, and early investigations revealed that Charmaine, Costello and Heather were missing. In 1994, Fred and Rose were arrested on numerous charges, including rape and child cruelty, and their underage children were placed in protective care. During this time, a social worker made note of the children mentioning a running family joke about Heather being “under the patio,” per Gloucestershire Live.

When the case went to court, it nearly fell apart when Anna Marie and Louise declined to testify, and the couple offered conflicting stories about Heather’s disappearance. But one investigator, Detective Constable Hazel Savage, remained persistent in the search for Heather and eventually secured a search warrant for the West family home.

After the warrant was executed and Fred and Rose’s house of horrors was uncovered, he confessed to Heather’s murder, and her remains were found.

Fred died in 1995

Once their crimes were uncovered, Rose was charged with 10 counts of murder, while Fred was charged with 12, according to CNN. But just before the trial was set to begin in early 1995, Fred died by suicide on Jan. 1, 1995.

Per BBC News, he was being held at Winson Green prison in Birmingham at the time of his death. According to CNN, Fred was 53 years old.

Rose is currently serving a life sentence

In November 1995, after a seven-week trial, Rose was found guilty of all 10 counts of murder and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

She is currently serving her sentence at HM Prison New Hall in West Yorkshire, England, and has maintained her innocence throughout much of the last three decades. Though she initially filed an appeal, it was denied, leading her to bring her case to the Criminal Cases Review Commission in 2001. Per The Independent, she ultimately withdrew the appeal in hopes of “reconciliation” with her family.

Rose remains in prison, and according to The Times, spends much of her free time listening to The Archers, playing Monopoly and teaching cross-stitching to fellow prisoners. Per the outlet, she was moved between prisons after a plot to kill her was allegedly uncovered.