‘I went into Fred and Rose West’s house of horrors – it still sickens me today’

Three decades on from the arrest of serial killer couple Fred and Rose West, crime reporter Martin Brunt has recounted paying £300 to gain access to the infamous “house of horrors”.

Mr Brunt recounts his grisly tale in the first episode of Fred and Rose West: The House of Horrors, a new Apple podcast released today – and readily admitted that what he saw inside 25 Cromwell Street in Gloucester still haunts him to this very day.

Fred and Rose West committed a series of horrific murders between 1967 and 1987. Their crimes involved the brutal torture, rape, and killing of at least twelve young women and girls, including two of their own children, and burying many of the victims at their home.

In 1995, Fred West killed himself in prison before he could stand trial – but his wife was brought to trial and found guilty on 10 counts of murder.

She was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, one of the most severe sentences ever given to a woman in the UK.

Mr Brunt, Sky News’ crime correspondent, told co-host Helen Fospero: “People talk about criminals being evil.

“And I’ve never really thought that you could describe anybody as wholly evil until I encountered the story of Fred West, who seemed to derive simple pleasure from inflicting torture and death on his victims.

“And I think to some extent, that’s true of Rose.

“I mean, certainly the jury’s verdict in her trial was that she was equally as culpable as Fred was for the murder of those young women.”

Mr Brunt, who was at the time working as a producer for the rolling news network, continued: “As well as all the daily events of a breaking, moving, major investigation that we had to cover, we were also looking for our own scoops.

“And I remember a young scallywag who we’ll call Jim coming up to me.”

Having already introduced him to “some of the characters around the street, he asked if Mr Brunt would “like to see inside the House of Horrors”.

Mr Brunt explained: “And of course, you know, there was only one answer and he wanted £300 and that seemed quite cheap.”

Having just driven back home to Sussex, he dashed back to the West Country, and he and a cameraman met Jim at 1am in the morning in Wellington Street, around the corner from Cromwell Street.

Mr Brunt said: “I spoke to the cameraman again recently and he still doesn’t want to be identified. He still feels rather guilty about what happened.

“So anyway, Jim led him to next door to number 23 Cromwell street, which was the other side of 25, two adjoining semi detached properties.

“And the cameraman still says, I don’t remember a key being used. We just walked up to the door and walked in.”

After leading them into number 23 and walking up three flights of stairs, Jim then opened a loft hatch and the trio hauled themselves up, went across an attic shared with number 25, pulled up another loft hatch, and dropped down onto the top floor.

Mr Brunt said: “Suddenly I was inside the House of Horrors. And the first thing he filmed was a discarded rubber glove, presumably left by one of the forensic team.

“I can’t remember whether there was still a police bobby guarding the front door, but if there was, he didn’t detect what was going on inside that night.

Jim led them down the three flights of stairs, “filming a very boring, mundane series of rooms that had been stripped of furnishings and fittings by the police and the forensic searchers” and down into the cellar where there was a trap door and a ladder.

Mr Brunt said: “And down onto the floor of the cellar where there were these odd childish drawings on the walls. There was a cowboy figure, some childish writing.

“But the distinctive thing was there was evidence where five holes had been dug by the police and then a screed had been put over them.

“And that’s where by then we knew that they had found the bodies of five of the victims buried in the cellar.”

Jim hurried them out once they got some footage, Mr Brunt stressed, adding: “It was afterwards I realised that the reason Jim wanted to get my cameraman out so quickly was that he had our rival camera crews waiting around the corner to do their shift inside.”

Asked to sum up his feelings 30 years later, Mr Brunt said: “People often ask me, what’s the worst case you’ve ever covered? I mean, it’s a traditional question, I suppose, particularly for crime reporters.

“And in 1994, when I started covering the Cromwell Street murders, at the time, as it began to unravel and the sheer depravity over such a long time of this couple, it did become the worst case I’d ever covered. I thought it then and I still think it is now.

He emphasised: “I mean, I’ve covered many cases since, but I don’t think anything has ever reached the scale of depravity, killing their own children, the level of torture and unpleasantness and pain that was inflicted on their victims.

“Nothing has matched it. I don’t think anything has ever come close to the story of the house of horrors.”

After the trial, the Wests’ home at Cromwell Street was demolished in 1996, partly to prevent it from becoming a morbid tourist attraction.

The site was paved over and turned into a pathway to erase its dark history.

Listen to the first episode of the podcast here.