A new Netflix documentary about Fred and Rose West, and Gloucestershire Constabulary's investigation into the serial killers, is launching on the streaming service on Wednesday 14 May 2025.
Promising 'the killer's own words', Fred and Rose West: A British Horror Story is a three-part series featuring previously unseen police videos and unheard audio recordings of Fred West, alongside interviews with his victims' family members, some of whom are speaking publicly for the first time.
Netflix describes the new show as the 'definitive documentary revealing the lives and crimes of Britain's most notorious and prolific husband and wife serial killers'.
The documentary shows how Gloucestershire Constabulary built their case against Fred and Rose and hopes to shed light on the victims families, 'the trauma they experienced and the strength they displayed during the trial'.
Fred West was arrested in 1994 on suspicion of killing his daughter Heather West. Gloucestershire Constabulary discovered the remains of nine young women and girls, including Heather, at the West home at 25 Cromwell Street in Gloucester – and Fred confessed to murder.
More victims were discovered in a field near Fred West's hometown of Much Marcle in Herefordshire and at the former West home on Midland Road in Gloucester, in what became the biggest investigation Gloucestershire Constabulary had ever undertaken.
Fred was interviewed by police 151 times and was charged with the murder of 12 victims – including his first wife Catherine Costello and two of his daughters, Heather and Charmaine – but took his own life in his remand cell before he could face trial. He was 53 years old.
Rose was charged with 10 counts of murder and stood trial alone. She was given 10 life sentences – making her one of the country's most prolific serial killers – and is currently serving time at HMP New Hall in Yorkshire.
The former West home on Cromwell Street was demolished in 1996 and replaced with a garden and footpath.
In 2021, police undertook an excavation at the Clean Plate Cafe in Gloucester, after another documentary presented new evidence suggesting that missing Mary Bastholm's remains may have been buried there, but no remains were found.
Fred denied any involvement in Mary's disappearance, though the full extent of the West's crimes, which were committed over a 20-year period, were never fully established.
Fred and Rose West: A British Horror Story is available to stream on Netflix from 8am on Wednesday 14 May 2025.
