section_path: Aftermath
section_name: Aftermath
paragraph_text: Aftermath
  
  Fred's body was cremated in Coventry on 29 March 1995 in a funeral that was attended by just four of his children. In a five-minute service, in which no hymns were sung, the Reverend Robert Simpson quoted sections of Psalm 23, then added a solemn reminder to those present that they must "also remember everyone else who has also suffered because of these tragic events". His ashes are believed to have been scattered at the Welsh seaside resort of Barry Island, a location he had regularly visited both as a child and as an adult with his family.
  
  After the 1994 arrest of their parents, the four youngest West children (born between 1978 and 1983), were given new identities to protect them from the notoriety of their family. Each child remained in foster care.
  
  The remains of Charmaine and Rena were cremated in Kettering. At the insistence of Anna Marie West, mother and daughter shared the same coffin, and no roses were to be brought to the service by any mourners.
  
  Two weeks after Anna Marie West delivered her testimony against her stepmother in 1995, she attempted suicide. She again attempted suicide in 1999 by throwing herself from a bridge into the River Severn.
  
  When asked at trial why she had not spoken against the ongoing physical, emotional, and sexual abuse she had endured for seven years before running away from home when she was 15, Anna Marie emphasised that, as a child and adolescent, she had not known any other normality, adding, " were all I had."
  
  Stephen West is also known to have made a suicide attempt in 2002, by attempting to hang himself. In 2004, he was jailed for nine months for having unlawful sex with a 14-year-old girl on multiple occasions.
  
  As a direct result of her tenacity in investigating the Wests, DC Hazel Savage was placed upon the annual New Year's honours list. The following year, she was awarded an MBE.
  
  The Wests' house in Cromwell Street was demolished in October 1996, with every piece of debris destroyed to discourage potential souvenir hunters. It had been referred to in the press as the "House of Horrors". The site was later redeveloped into a public pathway.
  
  Fred's younger brother, John, hanged himself in the garage of his Gloucester home in November 1996. At the time of his suicide, he had been awaiting the jury verdict in his trial for the alleged multiple rapes of his niece, Anna Marie, and another underage girl at Cromwell Street in the 1970s.
  
  In March 1996, Rose announced her intentions to appeal against her sentence, contending extensive press coverage had rendered witness testimony unreliable, that no physical evidence existed to attest she had participated in any of the murders, that the final instructions delivered by the judge to the jury had been biased in favour of the prosecution, and that undue weight had been given to the similar fact evidence introduced at her trial. This appeal was rejected by the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Taylor of Gosforth, who contended Rose had received a fair trial and efficient legal representation. In July 1997, then- Home Secretary Jack Straw subjected Rose to a whole life tariff, effectively denying her any possibility of parole. Rose again announced that she would appeal against her sentence via her solicitor Leo Goatley in October 2000; in September 2001, she announced her intentions to abandon her appeals, stating she would never feel free even if released. She maintains her innocence in any of the murders.
  
  Both of Rose's oldest biological children and her stepdaughter, Anna Marie, initially visited her in prison on a regular basis, although by 2006, she had ceased contact with them after Mae began asking questions about her culpability in the murders. Rose justified her decision with the explanation: "I was never a parent and could never be now."
  
  The body of the Wests' former friend and housemate, Terrence Crick, was found in his car in the Scarborough district of Hackness in January 1996. He was 48 years old. Crick had become acquainted with Fred while he had lived at the Lake House Caravan Park in 1969; he had reported Fred to the authorities on several occasions after having been shown surgical instruments Fred claimed to have used to perform illegal abortions, and Polaroid images of the subjects' genitals he claimed to have taken immediately after the procedures. Crick had further informed authorities that Fred had asked him to assist in finding pregnant girls to perform abortions upon.
  
  Crick had believed the information he had provided to police was ignored as Fred was a known police informant. The stress and guilt Crick had felt over the fact the information he had provided had not resulted in charges being brought apparently led him to take his own life. An inquest later recorded a verdict of suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning.
  
  In 2004, one of the Wests' youngest children, Barry, claimed to have witnessed the murder of his sister Heather. According to Barry (who was seven at the time), Fred and Rose had restrained, then sexually and physically abused Heather, before Rose had repeatedly stamped upon her head until she ceased to move.
  
  Barry West took his own life via a suspected drug overdose in October 2020 at the age of 40. For several years prior to his death, he is known to have battled a drug addiction and psychiatric problems as a result of the abuse he witnessed and endured as a child.
  
  Fred's body was cremated in Coventry on 29 March 1995 in a funeral that was attended by just four of his children. In a five-minute service, in which no hymns were sung, the Reverend Robert Simpson quoted sections of Psalm 23, then added a solemn reminder to those present that they must "also remember everyone else who has also suffered because of these tragic events". His ashes are believed to have been scattered at the Welsh seaside resort of Barry Island, a location he had regularly visited both as a child and as an adult with his family.
  
  After the 1994 arrest of their parents, the four youngest West children (born between 1978 and 1983), were given new identities to protect them from the notoriety of their family. Each child remained in foster care.
  
  The remains of Charmaine and Rena were cremated in Kettering. At the insistence of Anna Marie West, mother and daughter shared the same coffin, and no roses were to be brought to the service by any mourners.
  
  Two weeks after Anna Marie West delivered her testimony against her stepmother in 1995, she attempted suicide. She again attempted suicide in 1999 by throwing herself from a bridge into the River Severn.
  
  When asked at trial why she had not spoken against the ongoing physical, emotional, and sexual abuse she had endured for seven years before running away from home when she was 15, Anna Marie emphasised that, as a child and adolescent, she had not known any other normality, adding, " were all I had."
  
  Stephen West is also known to have made a suicide attempt in 2002, by attempting to hang himself. In 2004, he was jailed for nine months for having unlawful sex with a 14-year-old girl on multiple occasions.
  
  As a direct result of her tenacity in investigating the Wests, DC Hazel Savage was placed upon the annual New Year's honours list. The following year, she was awarded an MBE.
  
  The Wests' house in Cromwell Street was demolished in October 1996, with every piece of debris destroyed to discourage potential souvenir hunters. It had been referred to in the press as the "House of Horrors". The site was later redeveloped into a public pathway.
  
  Fred's younger brother, John, hanged himself in the garage of his Gloucester home in November 1996. At the time of his suicide, he had been awaiting the jury verdict in his trial for the alleged multiple rapes of his niece, Anna Marie, and another underage girl at Cromwell Street in the 1970s.
  
  In March 1996, Rose announced her intentions to appeal against her sentence, contending extensive press coverage had rendered witness testimony unreliable, that no physical evidence existed to attest she had participated in any of the murders, that the final instructions delivered by the judge to the jury had been biased in favour of the prosecution, and that undue weight had been given to the similar fact evidence introduced at her trial. This appeal was rejected by the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Taylor of Gosforth, who contended Rose had received a fair trial and efficient legal representation. In July 1997, then- Home Secretary Jack Straw subjected Rose to a whole life tariff, effectively denying her any possibility of parole. Rose again announced that she would appeal against her sentence via her solicitor Leo Goatley in October 2000; in September 2001, she announced her intentions to abandon her appeals, stating she would never feel free even if released. She maintains her innocence in any of the murders.
  
  Both of Rose's oldest biological children and her stepdaughter, Anna Marie, initially visited her in prison on a regular basis, although by 2006, she had ceased contact with them after Mae began asking questions about her culpability in the murders. Rose justified her decision with the explanation: "I was never a parent and could never be now."
  
  The body of the Wests' former friend and housemate, Terrence Crick, was found in his car in the Scarborough district of Hackness in January 1996. He was 48 years old. Crick had become acquainted with Fred while he had lived at the Lake House Caravan Park in 1969; he had reported Fred to the authorities on several occasions after having been shown surgical instruments Fred claimed to have used to perform illegal abortions, and Polaroid images of the subjects' genitals he claimed to have taken immediately after the procedures. Crick had further informed authorities that Fred had asked him to assist in finding pregnant girls to perform abortions upon.
  
  Crick had believed the information he had provided to police was ignored as Fred was a known police informant. The stress and guilt Crick had felt over the fact the information he had provided had not resulted in charges being brought apparently led him to take his own life. An inquest later recorded a verdict of suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning.
  
  In 2004, one of the Wests' youngest children, Barry, claimed to have witnessed the murder of his sister Heather. According to Barry (who was seven at the time), Fred and Rose had restrained, then sexually and physically abused Heather, before Rose had repeatedly stamped upon her head until she ceased to move.
  
  Barry West took his own life via a suspected drug overdose in October 2020 at the age of 40. For several years prior to his death, he is known to have battled a drug addiction and psychiatric problems as a result of the abuse he witnessed and endured as a child.