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Former Lodger Publishes Memoir on Life Inside Fred and Rose West’s Home

Her memoir details teenage lodgings at 25 Cromwell Street, exploring the shame that followed the later revelations.

Overview

  • Kathleen Richards, now 65, has released Under Their Roof, recounting her experience as a teenager living at 25 Cromwell Street.
  • She and her sister lodged with the Wests from November 1977 to January 1979 before leaving the house together with a nephew.
  • Richards describes Fred West as intrusive and minimizing his behavior, and she recalls feeling blame and shame rather than labeling him as evil.
  • She says she learned of the arrests years later while making dinner for her children, reacting with shock as the scale of the murders became known.
  • Investigations identified at least 12 victims; Fred West died by suicide in prison in January 1995, and Rose West remains held in the Rivendell House unit at HMP New Hall.