Kathleen Richards was just 17 when she fled 25 Cromwell Street together with her sister and her nephew, and has since recounted her harrowing experience with the killer couple
A victim who managed to escape the grip of Fred and Rose West has told all about her harrowing experience. She admitted that she knew something was up, but did not realise how vile the couple were until years later. Kathleen Richards was aged just 17 when she fled the notorious serial killers’ home.
She had been staying there together with her sister and nephew, but left the house in January 1979 and never looked back. Little did they know that behind closed doors, 25 Cromwell Street would become the site of some of the most sickening and disgusting acts, all being carried out by the killer couple. However, looking back at her time in the home, Kathleen – now aged 65 – admitted she never perceived the couple as “evil” while she knew them.
Since then, Kathleen has chronicled her brush with two of Britain’s most dangerous killers in a new memoir, Under Their Roof, which outlined her time living with Fred and Rose right before their murderous spree began. Their heinous crimes would later be exposed to the public in August 1992, fifteen years after Kathleen and her family fled, according to the Mirror.
In the book, Kathleen revealed that between November 1977 and January 1979, she and her sister Deirdre were lodgers in the West’s home on 25 Cromwell Street. The pair were forced to spend time there after their mother needed more space at home to look after her other children.
Recalling her first impressions of vile killer Fred, Kathleen said she believed he was “a dirty old man”. She would later describe him as “an idiot” who “seemed harmless” and “a bit silly”.
However, soon things began to take a turn as he began to make unwanted advances at Kathleen, and things soon became intense for the then-teenager, as she explained she had to try and keep away from him. She admitted that over time, something did not sit well within her, but he would always fire back that he was “having a bit of fun”, which left her confused.
Kathleen and her family left the home and never looked back in January of 1979. Fred and Rose West would then go on to commit at least 12 murders, being formally arrested in 1992, fifteen years after she first moved into that fateful house.
Recalling where she was when she heard the news, Kathleen penned that she had been making dinner for her own two young children at the time. But upon learning of the West’s disgusting deeds, she was left in total shock.
“I couldn’t believe it; you can’t believe he’s actually murdered people – the word evil didn’t cross my mind,” she penned. “Even though he touched me and I hated it, I still thought it was my fault; you feel ashamed, like maybe it is you who’s done something wrong.”
The 65-year-old would go on to thank her mother for saving her and her sister from the potential grip of the horrific couple. Fred and Rose were sentenced to life in prison for their crimes; Fred would take his own life in 1995 at the age of 53, but Rose — now aged 71 — currently remains locked up.
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