Rose West
Rose West, who was born Rosemary Pauline Letts, in November 1952 in North Devon, was convicted of 10 counts of murder in 1995. The murders were of young women whose dismembered remains were found in her Gloucester home and other sites in the county.
One of her victims was Charmaine West aged 8, daughter of her husband (he was in prison at the time). Another of the victims was Rose’s own 16-year-old daughter Heather.
Fred West, her husband (and obviously a very brave man), escaped justice by taking his own life while on remand in prison.
In November 1995 a jury at Winchester Crown Court found the mother-of-eight, Rose, guilty of ten murders after a month-long trial.
On conviction, she was sentenced to life in prison and Justice Charles Mantell emphasised that she should never be paroled.
When West appealed her conviction in 1996, Lord Chief Justice Taylor refused the appeal but commuted her sentence declaring that she should spend at least twenty-five years in prison.
However, in July 1997 her sentence was changed to a whole life order (commonly known as a whole life tariff) by Home Secretary Jack Straw.
A whole life order means that a prisoner is ordered to serve their sentence without any possibility of parole or conditional release.
Reports over recent years have suggested that Rose West was considering appealing, not against her conviction but against her sentence. This would allow her to make a bid for parole, with claims that she does not want to die behind bars.
In 2018, a source told the The Star on Sunday: "West is convinced that she has become a political prisoner and that no Home Secretary will dare overturn her whole-life tariff because it would be too politically damaging.
"Nevertheless, she is determined to try. She has now served 23 years in prison. She maintains that even if she was guilty, she has served her time."
Can a prisoner on a whole life tariff have a realistic chance of parole? Will one of Britain's most notorious female serial killers ever walk our streets again?
As the police are now investigating a fresh lead into the unsolved case of Mary Bastholm, who was 15-years-old when she was reported missing in 1968, but has never been found and which has been linked to Fred West, Rose's future in prison has been highlighted again.
With the convicted killer having previously expressed a wish to appeal against both her conviction and her sentence, if the body currently being searched for is indeed found, should Rose West be charged and committed for trial?
At the present time it is generally accepted that no further adjustments are made to her sentence and she will eventually die behind bars. If a court case ensues, would she have a forum to try to adjust her current whole life tariff to one of time served?
I have no idea what the legal position would be, but I would prefer that she remains where she is for the rest of her life rather than give her any opportunity to breathe the same air as the relatives of her victims.
What are your views?
(My information and some extracts have been taken from https://www .devonlive.com/news/devon-news/rose-west-chance-might-released-5403867)
One of her victims was Charmaine West aged 8, daughter of her husband (he was in prison at the time). Another of the victims was Rose’s own 16-year-old daughter Heather.
Fred West, her husband (and obviously a very brave man), escaped justice by taking his own life while on remand in prison.
In November 1995 a jury at Winchester Crown Court found the mother-of-eight, Rose, guilty of ten murders after a month-long trial.
On conviction, she was sentenced to life in prison and Justice Charles Mantell emphasised that she should never be paroled.
When West appealed her conviction in 1996, Lord Chief Justice Taylor refused the appeal but commuted her sentence declaring that she should spend at least twenty-five years in prison.
However, in July 1997 her sentence was changed to a whole life order (commonly known as a whole life tariff) by Home Secretary Jack Straw.
A whole life order means that a prisoner is ordered to serve their sentence without any possibility of parole or conditional release.
Reports over recent years have suggested that Rose West was considering appealing, not against her conviction but against her sentence. This would allow her to make a bid for parole, with claims that she does not want to die behind bars.
In 2018, a source told the The Star on Sunday: "West is convinced that she has become a political prisoner and that no Home Secretary will dare overturn her whole-life tariff because it would be too politically damaging.
"Nevertheless, she is determined to try. She has now served 23 years in prison. She maintains that even if she was guilty, she has served her time."
Can a prisoner on a whole life tariff have a realistic chance of parole? Will one of Britain's most notorious female serial killers ever walk our streets again?
As the police are now investigating a fresh lead into the unsolved case of Mary Bastholm, who was 15-years-old when she was reported missing in 1968, but has never been found and which has been linked to Fred West, Rose's future in prison has been highlighted again.
With the convicted killer having previously expressed a wish to appeal against both her conviction and her sentence, if the body currently being searched for is indeed found, should Rose West be charged and committed for trial?
At the present time it is generally accepted that no further adjustments are made to her sentence and she will eventually die behind bars. If a court case ensues, would she have a forum to try to adjust her current whole life tariff to one of time served?
I have no idea what the legal position would be, but I would prefer that she remains where she is for the rest of her life rather than give her any opportunity to breathe the same air as the relatives of her victims.
What are your views?
(My information and some extracts have been taken from https://www .devonlive.com/news/devon-news/rose-west-chance-might-released-5403867)
