Until 1994 rumours had been steadily growing about the disappearance of the West’s daughter, Heather, who had gone missing in 1987 at the age of 16. Their claims that she was living and working in another part of the country were debunked by an inquisitive local detective and on 24 February police began to search the house.

They eventually found a body and with it, the remains of another. Bodies were hidden throughout the house and garden and it is still widely believed that Fred West maintained another burial site.

It soon emerged that between 1967 and 1987 the Wests were responsible for the torture, rape and murder of 12 young women. Typically these were lodgers and au pairs, young women who lived transient lives and would not soon be missed.

The rumours proved true and Heather West’s body was amongst those that the police found. Fred West confessed to the murders but was never to stand trial. He hanged himself in his cell in Birmingham’s Winson Green Prison on New Years Day 1995.

There is speculation that he killed others. Rose West has always maintained her innocence, but was convicted (by a unanimous jury) of ten murders and has been told that she will never leave prison.