section_path: Meeting Fred West/Murder of Charmaine West
section_name: Murder of Charmaine West
paragraph_text: Murder of Charmaine West
  
  Rose is believed to have murdered Charmaine shortly before Fred's prison release date of 24 June 1971. She is known to have taken Charmaine, Anne Marie, and Heather to visit Fred on 15 June; it is believed Charmaine was killed on or very shortly after this date. As well as forensic odontology confirming that Charmaine had died while Fred was still incarcerated, further testimony from Tracey Giles's mother, Shirley, corroborated the fact that Charmaine had died before Fred's release. In her later testimony at Rose's trial, Shirley stated that her two daughters had been playmates of Charmaine and Anne Marie when her family lived in the upper flat of 25 Midland Road in 1971. Shirley further stated that after her family had vacated the upper flat in April 1971, she had brought Tracey to visit Charmaine on one day in June, only for Tracey to be told by Rose: "She's gone to live with her mother, and bloody good riddance!"
  
  As with the Giles family, Rose explained Charmaine's disappearance to others who enquired about her whereabouts by claiming that Fred's first wife, Catherine "Rena" West, had taken her eldest daughter to live with her in Bristol. She informed staff at Charmaine's primary school that the child had moved with her mother to London. When Fred was released from prison on 24 June, he allayed Anne Marie's concerns for her sister's whereabouts by claiming her mother Rena had collected Charmaine and returned to her native Scotland. In her autobiography, Out of the Shadows, Anne Marie — who was fully white while Charmaine was of part- Asian ethnicity — recollects that when she asked why her mother had collected Charmaine but not her, Fred callously replied: "She wouldn't want you, love. You're the wrong colour."
  
  Charmaine's body was initially stowed in the coal cellar of Midland Road until Fred was released from prison. He later buried her naked body in the yard close to the back door of the flat, and he remained adamant he had not dismembered her. A subsequent post-mortem suggested the body had been severed at the hip; this damage may have been caused by building work Fred conducted at the property in 1976. Several bones — particularly patellae, finger, wrist, toe and ankle bones — were missing from Charmaine's skeleton, leading to the speculation the missing parts had been retained as keepsakes. This would prove to be a distinctive finding in all the autopsies of the victims exhumed in 1994.
  
  Rose is believed to have murdered Charmaine shortly before Fred's prison release date of 24 June 1971. She is known to have taken Charmaine, Anne Marie, and Heather to visit Fred on 15 June; it is believed Charmaine was killed on or very shortly after this date. As well as forensic odontology confirming that Charmaine had died while Fred was still incarcerated, further testimony from Tracey Giles's mother, Shirley, corroborated the fact that Charmaine had died before Fred's release. In her later testimony at Rose's trial, Shirley stated that her two daughters had been playmates of Charmaine and Anne Marie when her family lived in the upper flat of 25 Midland Road in 1971. Shirley further stated that after her family had vacated the upper flat in April 1971, she had brought Tracey to visit Charmaine on one day in June, only for Tracey to be told by Rose: "She's gone to live with her mother, and bloody good riddance!"
  
  As with the Giles family, Rose explained Charmaine's disappearance to others who enquired about her whereabouts by claiming that Fred's first wife, Catherine "Rena" West, had taken her eldest daughter to live with her in Bristol. She informed staff at Charmaine's primary school that the child had moved with her mother to London. When Fred was released from prison on 24 June, he allayed Anne Marie's concerns for her sister's whereabouts by claiming her mother Rena had collected Charmaine and returned to her native Scotland. In her autobiography, Out of the Shadows, Anne Marie — who was fully white while Charmaine was of part- Asian ethnicity — recollects that when she asked why her mother had collected Charmaine but not her, Fred callously replied: "She wouldn't want you, love. You're the wrong colour."
  
  Charmaine's body was initially stowed in the coal cellar of Midland Road until Fred was released from prison. He later buried her naked body in the yard close to the back door of the flat, and he remained adamant he had not dismembered her. A subsequent post-mortem suggested the body had been severed at the hip; this damage may have been caused by building work Fred conducted at the property in 1976. Several bones — particularly patellae, finger, wrist, toe and ankle bones — were missing from Charmaine's skeleton, leading to the speculation the missing parts had been retained as keepsakes. This would prove to be a distinctive finding in all the autopsies of the victims exhumed in 1994.