When one of the West children told Social Services about the family 'joke' that sister Heather was buried under the patio, investigations began and the uncovering of a third leg bone indicated this was not the single homicide first anticipated. Eventually the shocking truth emerged with the discovery of nine dismembered bodies.
Reconstruction based on tapes recorded by defence solicitor Howard Ogden, chronicling Fred West's violent, abusive childhood, teenage sexual offences and earliest known killings, including the murders of his first wife Rena and lover Anna McFall.
In police interviews recorded before his death, Fred West talks about the so-called 'family of love' that existed at 25 Cromwell Street, where he and his wife kept up the pretence of being an ordinary couple while all the time they were engaged in serial rape and murder. They were already known to the police for kidnapping and sexually assaulting a woman they picked up in their car in 1973, while in 1992 incriminating video footage came to light. So how did they manage to fool the authorities for so long?