Police quiz Fred West’s son as Mary Bastholm probe continues

Fred West’s son tells police serial killer hid MORE victims in remote well – as forensics begin digging up café cellar where 15-year-old ‘first victim’ Mary Bastholm is feared to be buried

  • Detectives searching cafe for Mary Bastholm’s remains were given new information from Stephen West
  • Mr West is understood to have told officer that serial killer father told him he murdered 15-year-old Mary
  • Police source says Mr West explained he had given the information to chief superintendent John Bennett
  • Now-retired officer led murder probe into West couple back in 1994 – but allegedly did not believe Mr West 

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Fred West’s son is helping police after six ‘anomalies’ were found at a cafe where missing Mary Bastholm is feared to be buried.

Detectives searching for the remains of 15-year-old Mary in the cellar of the the Clean Plate café in the serial killer’s home city of Gloucester were given the new information after interviewing his son Stephen yesterday.

Mr West is understood to have told the officer his father confided in him that he murdered Mary, as well as other women, whom he buried in a well in a remote cornfield opposite the Berkeley nuclear power station in Gloucestershire.

A police source told MailOnline that Mr West explained he had given the information to chief superintendent John Bennett, the now-retired officer who led the murder investigation into his father and mother, Rose West, back in 1994, but was not believed.

It comes as officers are preparing to excavate the basement of the cafe in the centre of Gloucester, where Mary used to work and where West is understood to have carried out building work. 

Stephen West, the son of Fred West

Stephen West, the son of Fred West

Serial killers Fred and Rosemary West

Serial killers Fred and Rosemary West

Fred West’s son Stephen West (left) is helping police after six ‘anomalies’ were found at a cafe where missing Mary Bastholm is feared to be buried. Mr West gave information to an officer who led the murder investigation into Fred and Rose West (right)

Fred West is pictured with his son Stephen as a boy. Mr West is understood to have told an officer his father confided in him that he murdered Mary

Fred West is pictured with his son Stephen as a boy. Mr West is understood to have told an officer his father confided in him that he murdered Mary

Fred West is pictured with his son Stephen as a boy. Mr West is understood to have told an officer his father confided in him that he murdered Mary

Ground penetrating radar has uncovered six voids under the cafe’s basement, including one which looks to contain blue material, prompting fears it could be the blue jacket Mary was last seen wearing.

Mary is feared to have been one of West’s first victims after she went missing from a bus stop in 1968. Her body has never been found.

Detectives searching a cafe for the remains of 15-year-old Mary Bastholm (pictured) were given new information

Detectives searching a cafe for the remains of 15-year-old Mary Bastholm (pictured) were given new information

Detectives searching a cafe for the remains of 15-year-old Mary Bastholm (pictured) were given new information

The police source said: ‘Officers spoke with Stephen West yesterday and asked him to go back over what his father had told him back in 1994 when he visited his father in prison.

‘Mr West explained that he had told Chief Supt Bennet, who led the police investigation, that his father had told him that he had killed numerous women and buried them under a well in a remote field near the Berkeley nuclear power station.

‘He also said that his father had admitted to murdering Mary Bastholm but didn’t want to reveal where she was.

‘However, Mr West said his information was apparently brushed off at the time because Chief Supt Bennett considered his father to be a liar and someone who could not be trusted to tell the truth. 

‘Mr West told officers that when his information wasn’t acted on he travelled to the location himself to see if his father was telling the truth and found the well, which he described as being in ‘the middle of nowhere’.

‘In light of the current investigation at The Clean Plate cafe, Mr West’s information on what his father disclosed to him from prison is being treated with much more seriousness.’

Last week Mr West confirmed to MailOnline that his father had admitted to him that he had murdered Mary and had done work on the cafe where she worked, which was then known as the Pop-In cafe. 

Contractors arriving at The Clean Plate cafe in Gloucester this morning where excavation work is to begin

Contractors arriving at The Clean Plate cafe in Gloucester this morning where excavation work is to begin

Contractors arriving at The Clean Plate cafe in Gloucester this morning where excavation work is to begin

An aerial view of police activity at The Clean Plate cafe in Gloucester this morning where excavation work is to begin

An aerial view of police activity at The Clean Plate cafe in Gloucester this morning where excavation work is to begin

An aerial view of police activity at The Clean Plate cafe in Gloucester this morning where excavation work is to begin

Contractors arriving at The Clean Plate cafe in Gloucester today as the investigation continues with excavation work

Contractors arriving at The Clean Plate cafe in Gloucester today as the investigation continues with excavation work

Contractors arriving at The Clean Plate cafe in Gloucester today as the investigation continues with excavation work

Police found "possible evidence" in Gloucester of where a suspected teenage victim of serial killer Fred West may be buried

Police found "possible evidence" in Gloucester of where a suspected teenage victim of serial killer Fred West may be buried

Police found ‘possible evidence’ in Gloucester of where a suspected teenage victim of serial killer Fred West may be buried

Contractors are seen at The Clean Plate cafe in Gloucester today as the Mary Bastholm investigation continues

Contractors are seen at The Clean Plate cafe in Gloucester today as the Mary Bastholm investigation continues

Contractors are seen at The Clean Plate cafe in Gloucester today as the Mary Bastholm investigation continues

He said: ‘He didn’t go into how he killed Mary but it was his usual MO, grabbing vulnerable women alone on the street. 

How police will use a pneumatic drill to dig-up café’s concrete cellar after radar detected six voids beneath the ground

Police searching for the remains of a suspected Fred West victim are this morning preparing to excavate the basement of a cafe.

Officers brought in equipment to start digging under The Clean Plate Cafe in Gloucester, where 15-year-old Mary Bastholm worked before vanishing in 1968.

One officer was seen carrying a pneumatic drill with a chisel on the end through the white tent set up at the entrance to the diner.

It will be used to break up the concrete cellar floor after six voids were discovered underneath the building.

Detectives have already drilled into one of the voids and put a camera down and caught what looked to be blue material buried there. Mary was wearing a blue coat, a blue and white dress and was carrying a blue bag on the day she went missing.

One of the voids under the cafe is a metre and a half deep and could have been left when objects decomposed, Gloucestershire Police have said.

West, who killed himself in 1995 while awaiting trial for the murder of 12 women, is said to have carried out building work on the cafe just after Mary’s disappearance, including potentially laying the concrete floor. The search will take at least two weeks with police excavating each void in turn and then backfilling them and moving on to the next.

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‘I said to him, ‘Did you do it? You’ve always denied it.’ He said ‘yeah, I did do it. I did take her’.

‘I told him that he had to tell the police as he had nothing to lose as he couldn’t be in any more trouble than he already was but he was adamant that he wouldn’t.’

Mr West added: ‘He talked to me about another 20-30 victims on top of what the police found. He said he lost count, forgot victims’ names. 

‘There were a number of other locations that my dad told me he’d buried his victims. I told police this back in 1994/5.’

Fred West hanged himself on New Year’s Day 1995 while awaiting trial for the murders of 12 women. He was never investigated over Mary’s disappearance but has always been the prime suspect.

The potential new leads being investigated in the cafe were uncovered by a documentary team, led by Sir Trevor McDonald, who brought in dogs trained to find dead bodies that became agitated when in the basement.

They also used a scanner able to penetrate stone which picked up a ‘suspicious object’ under the concrete floor.

Forensic archaeologists have discovered six ‘voids’ – around 2ft at their deepest – in the cellar toilet area of the cafe. A camera placed through a hole in the floor found a piece of blue material beneath.

Mary was wearing a blue coat, blue and white dress and was carrying a blue bag on the day she went missing on January 6, 1968.

Detective Chief Inspector John Turner said officers were today due to commence excavation work, which will take around two weeks to complete.

He said police would consider their options following the dig but an ‘obvious’ line of inquiry would be interviewing serial killer Rose West.

The 67-year-old is serving a life sentence at HMP New Hall in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, after she collaborated in the torture and murder of nine young women and her eight-year-old stepdaughter with her husband.

DCI Turner said: ‘If we were to find something I will then consider other investigative opportunities.

Police officers remove objects from The Clean Plate cafe in Gloucester yesterday morning, including two wooden doors

Police officers remove objects from The Clean Plate cafe in Gloucester yesterday morning, including two wooden doors

Police officers remove objects from The Clean Plate cafe in Gloucester yesterday morning, including two wooden doors 

Police at the scene in Gloucester yesterday, where they are preparing to excavate the basement of The Clean Plate cafe

Police at the scene in Gloucester yesterday, where they are preparing to excavate the basement of The Clean Plate cafe

Police at the scene in Gloucester yesterday, where they are preparing to excavate the basement of The Clean Plate cafe

West (shown above) worked as a builder, and he may have laid the floor that is now being dug up as part of a forensic probe

West (shown above) worked as a builder, and he may have laid the floor that is now being dug up as part of a forensic probe

West (shown above) worked as a builder, and he may have laid the floor that is now being dug up as part of a forensic probe

Mr West is understood to have told an officer that his serial killer father confided in him that he murdered Mary as well as other women, who he buried in a well in a remote cornfield opposite the Berkeley nuclear power station (file picture)

Mr West is understood to have told an officer that his serial killer father confided in him that he murdered Mary as well as other women, who he buried in a well in a remote cornfield opposite the Berkeley nuclear power station (file picture)

Mr West is understood to have told an officer that his serial killer father confided in him that he murdered Mary as well as other women, who he buried in a well in a remote cornfield opposite the Berkeley nuclear power station (file picture)

‘One of the obvious ones would be speaking to Rose West.

Drone pictures from above the Clean Plate show police have put up forensic tents at the front and rear of the property

Drone pictures from above the Clean Plate show police have put up forensic tents at the front and rear of the property

Drone pictures from above the Clean Plate show police have put up forensic tents at the front and rear of the property

‘We found six voids within the basement. It could be water … it could be something decomposing.

‘They have drilled a hole in the ground to vent the area and at that point the search dogs with them have indicated some kind of interest. 

‘An endoscope has then been put into the void and they had seen what they have described as a blue bit of material.’

West is said to have told his son Stephen that he killed Mary while in custody, just weeks before killing himself in January 1995. Detectives have already interviewed Stephen to investigate the claims.

Police had received information that West was responsible for renovations in 1968 to the basement of the cafe, then called the Pop-In.

But contradictory statements that West had not carried out building work there led police to rule out an earlier search.

A petition in 2012 led then-Gloucestershire chief constable Tony Melville to review the investigation for Mary. But he said they would not conduct a further search unless ‘new and compelling’ evidence came to light.

West, one of Britain’s most notorious serial killers, is known to have murdered at least 12 young women, eight of whom were raped, tortured and mutilated.

The remains of nine victims were discovered buried in the back garden at the Wests’ home in Cromwell Street, Gloucester, in 1994.

West killed himself while awaiting trial at Birmingham’s Winson Green prison. 

The tragic victims of the House of Horrors murderers

Although Fred West was convicted of killing 12 women and Rose 10, the pair are thought to have killed up to 20 more.

One victim who was almost certainly killed by West was his former girlfriend Anne McFall who like the others, was found in a shallow grave with body parts missing. West denied it.

The warped pair used whips to torture their victims as well as their own children. 

Fred West committed suicide by hanging himself in a prison cell in January 1995 — before he could stand trial for the murders.

Rose West is still a prisoner at HMP Low Newton in Durham, having been handed a rare ‘whole life tariff’ for her part in the killings. 

Confirmed victims include:

Charmaine West, eight: Fred West’s stepdaughter from his first marriage, Charmaine was murdered by Rose in 1971 while Fred was in prison.

Rena Costello, 27: Charmaine’s mother Rena, Fred’s first wife, was murdered when she arrived to pick up her daughter Charmaine in August 1971. With Charmaine already dead, it is thought Fred killed her to avoid an investigation.

Lynda Gough, 20: Miss Gough was a lodger in the West’s home and was killed in April 1973. Rose told her mother she had moved to Weston-super-Mare.

Carol Ann Cooper, 15: The teenager disappeared while walking home from the cinema to her Worcester children’s home in November 1973. Her remains were found buried in the Wests’ garden.

Lucy Partington, 21: After spending Christmas with her family in Cheltenham, Miss Partington disappeared after leaving to catch a bus. The student was the cousin of novelist Martin Amis and the sister of author Marian Partington.

Therese Siegenthaler, 22: The South London student was killed in April 1974 after disappearing while attempting to hitch-hike to Ireland.

Shirley Hubbard, 15: One of the Wests’ youngest victims, she disappeared on her way home from college in Droitwich. When her body was discovered, her head was completely covered in tape with a rubber tube placed in her mouth to allow her to breathe.

Juanita Mott, 18: Miss Mott, a former lodger at 25 Cromwell Street, was living in Newent when she vanished.

Shirley Robinson, 19: Another lodger, Miss Robinson was killed in 1978 after becoming pregnant with West’s child.

Alison Chambers, 17: The teenager disappeared in August 1979 and her remains were later found beneath the patio at 25, Cromwell Street.

Heather West, 17: Repeatedly raped by her father, Heather complained to friends about the abuse and was murdered by her parents in a bid to keep her quiet. 

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