Serial killer Rose West, 72, is currently an inmate at New Hall Prison in West Yorkshire where she will see out her days after killing scores of women with her husband Fred West
With her grey hair, walking stick, and a habit of calling everyone ‘love’ or ‘dear’, Rose West presents as a deceptive grandmotherly figure. But even after 30 years behind bars, she remains a predator. Earlier this month, it was revealed that the 72-year-old had been disciplined in prison after allegedly sexually assaulting a young female inmate.
West, who has changed her name to Jennifer Jones, is serving a whole-life sentence for murdering 10 girls and women with her husband Fred. She is said to have targeted a vulnerable woman in her 20s while behind bars, and reportedly groomed her over a period of weeks before the alleged attack. Since then, West has been pulled before a prison governor and stripped of the privileges she enjoyed as an ‘enhanced’ prisoner, according to sources.
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The twisted killer is said to have embarked on a number of same sex affairs while behind bars and has been accused of being a ‘master manipulator’ when it comes to luring women in. ‘Rose would try and befriend people,’ one former inmate told the Daily Mail.
“She would do up their hair, put make-up on them. She would also make cakes on a Friday – it became a sort of thing on the wing where people would make cakes for the weekend and the staff would join in.” On other occasions, West attempted to make friends by handing out vapes and posting Christmas cards under cell doors.
One relationship she struck up with a prisoner 30 years younger than West was said to have been so serious she considered seeking permission to marry. A source said: “West is a master manipulator. She seeks out vulnerable people and then befriends them”, adding that the killer had a habit of buying women little treats like shower gel or teaching them how to cook.
Here, The Mirror takes a look at her ghoulish catalogue of prison lovers…
Myra Hindley
West has been linked to a number of other high-profile female criminals behind bars. But none more disturbing than her supposed romance with Myra Hindley. The women – two of the country’s most reviled female killers – were said to have had a sordid affair in 1995, which ended a few months later when West decided the Moors murderer was just too “dangerous”.
The fling was revealed in a book written by West’s lawyer Leo Goately, who represented her at her 1995 trial with husband Fred for murdering ten girls and women – including their own daughter. In his book, Understanding Fred & Rose West, Goately wrote: “Rose’s first paramour was the Moors murderer, Myra Hindley, who happened to be on the hospital wing at HMP Durham at the same time in 1995 and early 1996.
“I recall that Rose was quite taken with Hindley, impressed by her knowledge and ability. Rose said Hindley had studied various Open University courses. She said, ‘Yeah, Myra, she’s all right, we get on, I want to see how it goes’. This was a reference to a flowering, albeit short-lived, lesbian relationship.”
But things soon turned sour. According to Goatley, “When I visited a few months later, Rose’s opinion of Hindley had changed dramatically. She was saying, ‘You have to watch Hindley, mind. She is very manipulative.'” Hindley, who murdered five children with partner Ian Brady , between July 1963 and October 1965, died in prison in 2002.
Tracey Connelly
West is said to have started a fling with Baby P’s evil mum Tracey Connelly in 2009. She is said to have seduced Connelly while the two women were incarcerated at HMP Low Newton in Durham.
A former fellow inmate previously described West as “queen” of the prison and said she had seduced other prisoners for flings before targeting the sadistic mum of tragic baby Peter Connelly, who died in 2007 after suffering more than 50 injuries over an eight-month period. His mum, along with two men, was subsequently convicted of causing or allowing his death.
“Rose and Tracey got together and Rose would make her breakfast in bed,” she claimed.
Carole Louise Fishburn
West is also said to have struck up a relationship with child rapist Carole Louise Fishburn, who was branded ‘wicked, depraved and dangerous’ by a judge who jailed her for 16 years in 2015.
West is said to have helped Fishburn settle into life at high security prison Low Newton in County Durham, with a source telling the Sun: “In prison, it’s a case of birds of a feather flock together, and these women have a lot in common.
“West has been showing her the ropes on the wing – how to order treats and magazines, and they have been spending time in each other’s cells, reading and watching telly.”
Fishburn was convicted of a total of 11 charges, including rape, sexual activity with a child, inciting a child into sexual activity, taking and distributing indecent images and child cruelty. She gave one of the youngsters alcohol before sexually assaulting her, and abused another whilst forcing the girl to watch pornography.
According to forensics psychologist Kerry Daynes, it’s not unusual that some of Britain’s most depraved killers stick together. She told the Sun: “Many friendships forged in prisons are more about survival and availability, rather than compatibility.
“Prisoners who are despised for their crimes – particularly sex offenders or child killers – find themselves isolated and often bullied. There is some safety in numbers, and so the most excluded tend to stick together.”
She added: “People seek companionship and intimacy even when they are disliked, disgusted and heavily controlled. Look at the relationships between Rose West and Myra Hindley and Tracey Connelly, we can only guess whether or not they discussed their crimes together, or in what manner.”
