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There are around one million images of an estimated 20,000 individual children being abused online. Some police seizures involve hauls of more that 180,000 images. Last year, images of 13,000 new children were uncovered. Only 175 child victims have been identified worldwide.
Police have also revealed that images of Fred West abusing one of his children are among child pornography available for downloading from the internet. It is unclear whether the child was West’s murdered daughter Heather.
Glasgow Herald via Spotlight
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The Cromwell Road case is proving difficult for journalists as the Bristol detectives have been tighter than a gnat’s arse. The only clues that Grub Street has managed to come up with is that the bodies were mutilated – that is, some of the victims’ fingers and toes were missing.
But Scallywag has made enquiries through the social services and discovered some of the details that led to the arrest of the Wests.
At the end of 1992 five of Rosemary and Frederick West’s children were removed from their parent’s care because of evidence concerning sexual abuse. Indeed, in August of that year Emergency Protection Orders were issued in respect of Tara, Louise, Rosemary, Lucy and Barry West. When Detectives raided 25 Cromwell Road they discovered evidence in the form of home made videos that confirmed the social workers’ suspicions. In particular they found a video showing Frederick West anally raping his daughter, Louise. The camera was operated by her mother.
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theneedleblog 
Glad to discover this hidden gem. The Wests killed many more girls, maybe even boys, who knows. (He was suspected of hanging a lad in Scotland but it couldn’t be proven.) He said to surviving victims ‘my black friends will bury you under the paving slabs of Gloucester’. When Fred was arrested, a number of Jamaican men were arrested and charged with child abuse on the girls Fred & Rose had also abused. I feel these men have more to tell us, but the police were worried about a backlash of racism.
Elizabeth Swan was no doubt a victim, yet receives no media attention. Id be interested in knowing if Fred ever visited Coventry or surrounds in the very early 1990’s, a number of women vanished. (We have a lazy police force, most of the women aren’t even reported to the missing persons charity. A crime reporter at the local newspaper did an article and put questions to the police but they shrugged it off). In one book son Stephen says he visited an abandoned farm where he believes Fred buried girls, a doorway is bricked up and he recognises Fred’s handywork/brickwork…..yet the police said they had spent enough money already. Unbelievable. It’s little Charmaine who sticks in my mind, poor thing.
There were rumours at the time, which have persisted for years, that the Wests held sex parties at their house and that guests had included policemen. No-one is going to find out now. But remember that Rose West had been a prostitute for years, and used Gloucester Street as her base. So people were definitely visiting for sex. I can find no other claim that the police say there are images online of West abusing his children. So it comes down to whether you think Scallywag is hugely reliable.
Callie, Your whole being screams hesitancy; gossip presented as truth has to pass your scanner. Better that you are this way; I do not think you would ever make a Conspiracy Theorist.
Sadly, you stopped believing in Santa Claus whilst you gestating.
I’m surprised at you Callie.
It was The Glasgow Herald not Scallywag which said that videos were online.
Bazinga!
I don’t watch the west’s videos but I did watch the fred west doc on channel 5 the other night
one victim said fred told her “we’re in a sex group & there are other men. do you want to join in?”
I did wonder why this wasn’t taken further, by the police or the film makers
ethere there were more people involved in what the wests did.
or a policeman social worker or cps worker copied the tape and sold it.
very good article here
http://hat4uk.wordpress.com/2013/03/08/paedophilia-how-one-piece-of-news-can-kill-a-novel/
andy
Blimey – it’s huge, shall have to sit down with a glass of wine tonight and digest that one carefully, methinks.
It does go to show that the Indie seems to have consistently tried to get things ‘out there’ over the years, but to no avail.
I still wonder where Nick Davies is ???
very strange story is the west affair
the death of west before trial then that awful docudrama that was really weird and seems as if someone wanted people to somehow sympathise with him a child killer
very strange and how the feck did the vid get to the net as it should have not only been locked away but possibly destroyed
andy
I thought the docudrama was an excellent insight into the West’s warped psychology and made the point that while he was a sociopathic monster, such monsters look and sound very much like ‘ordinary people’. Fred West’s destruction in Winston Green isn’t that odd, ‘Rule 43’ prisoners like him are (fittingly) called ‘Beasts’ in prison- and are frequently attacked, and occasionally executed, by other non-sex-offending inmates, who hate them with a vengeance.
it was supposed to be the prison guards who helped him on his way – a rumour that I heard at the time
im assuming the wests recorded this on a video for it it to get on the internet someone must have converted this from video to dvd or cd rom to do this they must of had a copy of the video tape.
now how did they get hold of it
http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=elm%20guest%20house%20filmed%20abuse&source=web&cd=3&cad=rja&ved=0CDoQFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fspotlightonabuse.wordpress.com%2F2013%2F03%2F05%2Fthe-elm-guest-house-paedophile-network%2F&ei=cO85UaygO_Tb7AbTrIDYCw&usg=AFQjCNFBtqtEMF_P2s5rObHuiOY5dbalCg&bvm=bv.43287494,d.d2k
These depraved films were big business in the 70’s/80’s and no doubt Fred West profitted handsomely. It is no coincidence that there was a video suite at Elm Guest House. Paedophiles just had to be more resourceful in how they distributed the films, there are a number of pimp/porn merchants on the Elm Guest House list.
and don’t forget The Bryn Alyn Community had this:-
“At the height of his success, John Allen was estimated to be worth more than pounds 7m. This, however, was a remarkable sum to have amassed from child care alone. Allen had built up a string of companies, including two video production firms, Cambralynn, Ltd, and Video People, Ltd. In the late 1980s he took over the management of the Poyser Arts Centre, housed in a converted chapel in Wrexham. He set up a new video company, Poyser Arts Centre, Ltd, and received EUROPEAN UNION and REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT GRANTS to install state-of-the-art video facilities.”
You don’t get those type of grants easily and have to do some pretty indepth paper-work/business plans in the process. Someone gave the go-ahead for those grants…
IMHO Clwyd Council have an awful lot of ‘fessing-up’ to do too!
@cantankerous Just tried the link but is comes up page not found. Maybe a broken bit in your original cut’n’paste?
Link isnt found. Ive never forgotten Jason, I used to go to London around 1995 (after he’d died) and still would see boys hanging round Piccadilly, I always wondered how they’d got into it and where they came from. Does nobody care? What happened to Jason was horrific and I think they have many more victims. Im sure I read that Jason AND another lad went back to the flat or wherever it was……both were killed, so who was the other lad? Even the Krays are alleged to have partaken in ‘parties’ with underage boys (both were gay not just Ron) and after something ‘went wrong’, a boy was buried in a shallow grave in Norfolk. So much covered up.
If nothing else, the mere existance of something like this on the internet is wholly criminal. Someone is profiting – now that someone is either bent police/social services (who would obviously have had originals/copies), or it implies – once again – that the Wests were part of a larger ring that is still out there making money. If I remember rightly Nick Davies highlighted the Police Operation surrounding a ring operating in Bristol about the same time (1994), surely any links must have been investigated? but I also remember that that investigation came up against huge stalling tactics and opposition from within.
http://www.nickdavies.net/2000/10/01/paedophilia-is-easy-how-police-finally-caught-up-with-a-network-of-child-abusers/
Hi Sophie, link was supposed to be to piece regarding Colin Peter’s production of videos at Elm Guest House.
I think you are right to be wary of watching the Fred West film, even those made for tv can have harrowing descriptions or observations that make you want to hug your own children forever. For me in the crime watch programmes about the Cooke paedophile ring, it was the account of a single tear running down the face of Jason Swift as he was murderously assaulted. I haven’t been able to get it out of my head for days. It doesn’t need graphic detail to be absolutely heartbreaking.
D’you know, I doubt that links were investigated. There were 2 forces involved for a start; just 3 Avon & Somerset officers had enough on their plates to persuade their own to resource their investigation. They persevered against all the odds to investigate their case. Various authors who covered the Wests’ horrendous activities have suggested that Bristol was just one of the other areas they visited to get their sordid kicks. So were they part of a bigger network? Was there ritual involved? It’s anybody’s guess; those who know aren’t likely to say.
I noticed that the Welsh Witch was mentioned in Nick Davies’ article. He got around too.
I started reading “Fred and Rose” by Howard Sounes but had to put it down before I got to the murders although Rose was depicted as being unintelligent and practically “care in the community”. I guess her defence was that she was easily led and that Fred was the instigator. But again there had to be more people involved – that’s why I started reading the book in the first place, and to find out and whether it was satanic ritual. I wonder what the surviving West children have to say. . .
I taped the Fred West Documentary that was on Channel 5 the other night (not to be confused with the Drama Doc called ‘Appropriate Adult), but I honestly don’t know if I have the guts to watch it !! I am deeply suspicious of anything from You Tube mentioning his name and wouldn’t (on principle), watch any of it at all. I only taped the above because it was on mainstream TV. I still think that it was very telling that he ‘died’ in prison BEFORE coming to trial.
rainbowsophie – No do not watch it. Fascination with the likes of Fred West (and others) is sadly natural, but unhealthy – he who looks into the void should be warned that the void also looks deeply into him.
Very good point David. With most things in this whole sordid can of worms the Mantra ‘Know your enemy’ is a good one and I therefore try to gain information wherever and however possible. However on reflection and with your above warning in mind – I will delete it unwatched. Thank you
Oh man is that true!!!
rumour has it he was killed in Winston Green Prison
i asume this films were made for the Wests on private consumption or were they showing them to other people in that case who.
as these films were made before the days of the internet how did they get online the wests couldent have put them online.
other than the Wests the only people who had accesses to these films where police officers.
well i think that says it all really.
Depends also whether or not the images online are ‘Pay to View’ !! These type of films represent big business to some. I would have thought that a decent computer expert would have been able to track who had uploaded the internet images. Anonymous Hacktivists! Where are you ?
Follow the Money…
The Wests had a group of like minded ‘friends’, according to the books I’ve read, but porno films were shown to all and sundry; the haul of erotica that was surrendered by Rosemary West to Gloucs police (I think this was after the younger children were taken into care, as noted above) should have been destroyed – ahem!
Finally someone asks a good question…who, who was watching these videos, more importantly was anyone else ever captured on these recordings taking part in any abuse. I just watched the docu “house of horrors” and one thing that stood out for me was the threat against the babysitter Caroline “We will let our friends rape you then we will kill you” I have done a little digging to find out if anyone else was charged or followed up on with regards to conspiring with the couple, and nothing seems to exist. I for one would love to know who these friends were and why they were not hunted down. I also wonder if this is another case of covering up people connected to the murders just as Dunblaine was. Is this some satanic ritual performed by a sick “cult” of people who are still out there, or the workings of 2 individuals who were twisted by their own experiences of abuse. We now have tools for proper analysis of the evidence, I personally think it would be a good idea to re open the case and try to use new technology and science to determine exactly what happened and why. The main problem faced is the house was torn down, again was this in the pursuit of evidence or to destroy it.
Yes, Jamaican men were charged with rape of minors. Friends of Fred. Their names were briefly in the paper but the police worried about racism. Wonder what else these men know…..