section_path: Trial/Prosecution
section_name: Prosecution
paragraph_text: Prosecution
  
  In his opening statement, prosecutor Brian Leveson portrayed the Wests as sadistic sex-obsessed murderers, terming the bodies discovered at Cromwell Street and Midland Road "more terrible than words can express"; " last moments on earth were as objects of the sexual depravity of this woman and her husband". He pointed out that Fred had been incarcerated when Charmaine was killed; claimed that Fred and Rose had each learned from their mistake in allowing Caroline Owens to live; and said that the gag on victim Thérèse Siegenthaler evinced a "feminine" touch — a scarf tied in a bow. Leveson promised to demonstrate Rose's controlling and sexually sadistic character, as well as her efforts to deflect suspicion about the disappearance of their victims.
  
  Prosecution witnesses included Cromwell Street lodgers; victims' relatives; Rose's mother Daisy and sister Glenys; and surviving victims including Anne Marie West, Kathryn Halliday (a former lover of Fred and Rose), Caroline Owens and a "Miss A" (who had been sexually assaulted at age 14 by Fred and Rose in 1977, and who described Rose as the more aggressive perpetrator of the two). Neighbours described Charmaine's 1971 disappearance while Fred was imprisoned, and Rose's casual indifference to Heather's disappearance. Rose's counsel, Dick Ferguson, tried to discredit prosecution witnesses as either having financially exploited their connection to the case or motivated by grudges. Owens, though admitting to receiving £20,000 for her story, described her extreme survivor's guilt: "I only want to get justice for the girls who didn't make it. I feel like it was my fault."
  
  In his opening statement, prosecutor Brian Leveson portrayed the Wests as sadistic sex-obsessed murderers, terming the bodies discovered at Cromwell Street and Midland Road "more terrible than words can express"; " last moments on earth were as objects of the sexual depravity of this woman and her husband". He pointed out that Fred had been incarcerated when Charmaine was killed; claimed that Fred and Rose had each learned from their mistake in allowing Caroline Owens to live; and said that the gag on victim Thérèse Siegenthaler evinced a "feminine" touch — a scarf tied in a bow. Leveson promised to demonstrate Rose's controlling and sexually sadistic character, as well as her efforts to deflect suspicion about the disappearance of their victims.
  
  Prosecution witnesses included Cromwell Street lodgers; victims' relatives; Rose's mother Daisy and sister Glenys; and surviving victims including Anne Marie West, Kathryn Halliday (a former lover of Fred and Rose), Caroline Owens and a "Miss A" (who had been sexually assaulted at age 14 by Fred and Rose in 1977, and who described Rose as the more aggressive perpetrator of the two). Neighbours described Charmaine's 1971 disappearance while Fred was imprisoned, and Rose's casual indifference to Heather's disappearance. Rose's counsel, Dick Ferguson, tried to discredit prosecution witnesses as either having financially exploited their connection to the case or motivated by grudges. Owens, though admitting to receiving £20,000 for her story, described her extreme survivor's guilt: "I only want to get justice for the girls who didn't make it. I feel like it was my fault."