Serial killers Fred, Rose West's son Barry who saw sister beaten to death found dead from drug overdose at 40
The youngest son of serial killers Fred and Rose West was found dead from a suspected drug overdose it was reported on October 31. At the age of seven, 40-year-old Barry West watched his parents beat his sister Heather to death at their Cromwell Street home in Gloucester. Five years later, he was taken into care and was too petrified to give evidence at his mother's 1995 trial. Throughout the duration of his life, he was plagued by nightmares and psychiatric problems. He also faced a long and hard battle with drug addiction.
A family source told Daily Mail, "He never found peace, never escaped the ghosts of Cromwell Street. Of all the Wests' younger children, Barry had the most difficult life." After remaining in the Gloucester area for a while for the trial, he shifted to a different part of the country and adopted a new identity. He was found dead at a hostel in Maidstone, Kent. Last night, a member of the West family, under the condition of anonymity, confirmed that Barry had died 'some weeks ago' adding: "We heard he had died, but we know no more than that."
Fred West had killed himself in prison in 1995 while awaiting trial for 12 murder charges. His wife, Rose, had been sentenced to jail without parole for ten murders. The couple had murdered their step-daughter Charmaine, as well as Heather. Barry had a bedroom in a sound-proofed cellar and was said to be close to his father. In 2002, Barry gave an account of the trauma he underwent when living in the Cromwell house and recalled a night in June 1987, when his parents unleashed anger on his sister 16-year-old Heather, who had come home late.
"It was about 3 am when I heard Heather coming in," he said. "I heard my dad shouting, 'Where have you been? We've been waiting for you.' I heard my mum slap her, then I looked through the crack and saw my dad walk round behind her and put his leg out. Then he grabbed her neck and tripped her over. She went on to the floor. I could see her just a few feet away. Then my mum just booted her. She was kicking and kicking her and calling her a slag. My dad still had her by the throat. Then, when he tried to get her to do things to him, she refused. I think that's why she ended up dead."
After 15 minutes of this, Barry had said that Rose "rubbed her hands together" and said, "Right, let's clear this up." Barry said, "I could hear my dad wrapping her in some plastic and I could see my mum scrubbing the floor with a bucket and brush. There was some white bubbly stuff which must have been soap. Mum was telling him to hurry up and he asked her to help him, but she said, 'I can't. I've got to get rid of this before the kids get up.'" Later, his father forced him to disguise Heather's grave. "I didn't realize what I was doing at the time," he said. "When Dad said do something you did it, you never stopped to ask him why." Heather's mutilated body was dug up at the house by the police, who were stunned to find eight other bodies.