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THE niece of serial killer Fred West spoke about playing on the patio that her cousin's remains were buried under.

Sam West, 36, was just 11 years old when officers discovered Heather West in her uncle's House of Horrors garden.

 Sam West, pictured, said she used to play on the patio where her cousin had been buried at Fred and Rose West's house
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Sam West, pictured, said she used to play on the patio where her cousin had been buried at Fred and Rose West's house

Speaking for the first time about her experience, Sam said her shock and terror was so intense that she couldn't tell people about it.

She said: "You can't explain to people that at 11-years-old I was having nightmares that it could've been me.

"That I'd sat on top of that patio and played on top of my cousin's remains."

Heather was the first child born to Fred and Rosemary West and disappeared from their Gloucester home in 1987.

 Fred West committed at least 12 murders and was found dead in prison in 1995
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Fred West committed at least 12 murders and was found dead in prison in 1995Credit: Rex Features
 Heather (left, with her sister Mae) was killed by her dad and cops found her body in 1994
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Heather (left, with her sister Mae) was killed by her dad and cops found her body in 1994
 Sam said she also worried that she could've been one of Fred's victims
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Sam said she also worried that she could've been one of Fred's victims

Fred and Rose would joke to other children they would “end up under the patio like Heather” if they misbehaved and cops started probing her whereabouts.

They eventually found the 16-year-old girl's body in their garden in February 1994 and Sam said she thought “it couldn’t be real”

Speaking in a new Really series, The Killer In The Family, Sam also told how she was afraid she could've been one of victims when her surviving cousins asked her to stay.

She said: "The girls had asked me to stay, the last time we went to visit, stay overnight.

"'Your uncle Fred will drive you home tomorrow'".

 Rose West was caged for life in 1995
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Rose West was caged for life in 1995Credit: Rex Features
 The new series features footage from the police investigation
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The new series features footage from the police investigation
 Fred was arrested but killed himself before his trial
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Fred was arrested but killed himself before his trialCredit: Rex Features

"And I wouldn't stay. In the back of your mind you've got 'What if, what if?'"

Sam's trauma continued during the highly publicised investigation into Fred, in which she said "idiots" would ring up her family home and ask if it was "the body shop".

The six-part series features interviews with family members and explores whether they had any idea about what was going on at 25 Cromwell Street.

Psychologist Emma Kenny told the show: “When you find out new knowledge about people you thought you knew you don’t want to believe it.

“So you start to form pictures around how things must be incorrect, because it doesn’t fit with your world view.

 In 1995 Rose was convicted of 10 murders, while Fred who admitted 12 murders hanged himself while on remand in prison
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In 1995 Rose was convicted of 10 murders, while Fred who admitted 12 murders hanged himself while on remand in prisonCredit: Rex Features

LIVES LOST: The victims of Fred and Rose West

Anna McFall

The nanny of Fred and Rena West’s children, McFall was believed to have been murdered in 1967.

She was pregnant when she died, with West believed to have been the father. Her body was found in June 1994 in a shallow grave.

Fred West denied murdering McFall but he is said to have confided to a visitor after his arrest that he stabbed her following an argument.

This happened before Rosemary West met him.

Charmaine West

With Fred in prison for the theft of car tyres and a vehicle tax disc, Rosemary was left to look after Charmaine and Anne Marie.

The former just eight-years-old, was Fred West’s stepdaughter from his previous marriage.

A neighbour Tracey is said to have found Charmaine tied to a wooden chair with her hands behind a back with Rosemary standing with a large wooden spoon.

Rosemary claimed she’d been taken by her mother, but her skeleton was found at the Midland Road property, hidden and missing bones.

Rena West

Rena is believed to have been murdered by strangulation.

Rosemary was not charged for this murder.

Lynda Gough

Lynda Gough was the first sexually motivated killing conducted by the Wests.

She moved into Cromwell Street in April 1973, having had affairs with several lodgers. The Wests later claimed she’d been asked to leave after hitting one of their children.

Strangulation and suffocation were the likely causes of death.

Carol Ann Cooper

Cooper was murdered in November 1973, aged just 15.

On the night of November 9, she was allowed to spend the night at her grandmother’s house before a doctor’s appointment the next morning.

She attended the appointment and then met her boyfriend, before somehow ending up on Cromwell Street.

Her body was found more than twenty years later.

Lucy Partington

A 21-year-old medieval English student at Exeter University, she returned home for Christmas in December 1973.

She left a friend’s house in a rush to get the last bus from Cheltenham to Gretton on 27 December, with it believed she was abducted from this bus stop.

She was found more twenty years later, her dismembered body in the cellar of Cromwell Street.

Therese Siegenthaler

A 21-year-old Swiss sociology student at Woolwich Polytechnic.

She had planned to hitch-hike to Ireland in Easter 1974. Her family reported her missing having not heard from her for some time.

Prosecution believe she was abducted before being killed, with Fred West later building a fake chimney over her grave.

Shirley Hubbard

Just 15 at the time of her death, Hubbard is believed to have been abducted by the Wests.

Her body was found following an excavation in the concrete and plastic membrane of the cellar floor.

Juanita Mott

In the summer of 1974, Mott moved into 25 Cromwell Street but later went missing when she was living in Newent.

Her body was found in March 1994, 19 years later, with West having concreted over the floor of the cellar.

Shirley Robinson

The first victim buried outside the house, Robinson had an affair with Fred West, and by autumn 1977, she was pregnant with West’s child.

It was initially claimed she had moved to Scotland but her body was later found.

When questioned, Rosemary West, herself pregnant with her daughter Tara at the time of the murder, claimed she did not remember her, which was described as “ludicrous” by the prosecution.

Alison Chambers

The last murder with a sexual motive established. She disappeared just before her 17th birthday, having been seen at 25 Cromwell Street throughout the summer.

Her body was buried underneath the patio.

Heather West

The first child born to Fred and Rosemary West, there is no evidence she was aware of the killings.

Sexually abused by her parents and having told friends, she suddenly went missing in 1987, with Rosemary claiming she had gone to Wales to be with a lesbian partner.

The couple would joke to their other children that they would “end up under the patio like Heather” if they misbehaved. This, and their changing stories, lead to the search warrants for the property, which lead to their arrests.

“But then after time, as you start to make the pictures fit together, then you only have one option which is to completely reject that individual from your life.

“So the actual explosion emotionally and then the collateral damage long-term, is irreparable.”

Fred West murdered 12 young women and buried them in his “House of Horrors” garden.

He abducted, tortured, raped and murdered young women of a 20-year period with his wife Rose.

Fred killed himself while awaiting trial for the 12 murders in January 1995.

Rose was convicted of 10 murders, including that of her daughter, and sentenced to 10 life terms with a whole life order.


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