Rose West urged to come clean over missing schoolgirl

Serial killer Rose West has been urged to reveal what happened to a schoolgirl who vanished in Gloucester.

Mary Bastholm was 15 when she went missing on her way to catch a bus to visit her boyfriend in the city in 1968.

Her brother Peter Bastholm — speaking to mark the 20th anniversary of the Cromwell St murder investigation — has called on West to divulge what happened to his sister.

Bastholm, 69, believes Mary was an early victim of West’s builder husband Fred West, who killed himself in prison a year after his arrest.

Mary’s body has never been found.

Bastholm said West was probably the “only one” who knew about his sister’s disappearance.

“I think Rose knows exactly what happened to Mary because I assume she and Fred discussed it between themselves. Whether she will ever disclose it, I really don’t know,” he said.

“It would be a final act to find Mary’s body and lay it to rest after all these years, after all we have gone through.”

Mary vanished in 1968 — a time when Fred West, who often did jobs in the street where she worked as a waitress in a cafe, was abducting girls in Gloucester.

Her body was not found during the excavation of the Wests’ home, now known as the House of Horrors on 25 Cromwell St, Gloucester, which began on February 24, 1994.

However, police did find evidence suggesting a link between Mary and Fred West.

Bastholm told Sky News: “My wife and I went to the police station to view a lot of things that had been taken from the Wests’ house.

“My wife picked out a silver locket on a chain and she said that was Mary’s because she wore it as a bridesmaid at our wedding.

“We had a photo of it and police took it away to examine, but because it was a black and white picture they said they could not tell if the locket was silver or gold, so nothing came of it. But it was exactly like the one found at Cromwell St.”

Fred West is also said to have confessed to killing Mary in conversation with his son, Stephen, but never admitted it to police.

Tony Butler, former chief constable of Gloucestershire Police, said: “I don’t know if Rose West will feel at some point that she has some moral obligation to help the relatives of people, of other victims, I don’t know.”

But her solicitor, Leo Goatley, said he believed West would reveal what happened to Mary if she knew. “If Rose West was asked now about what happened to Mary Bastholm, I think if she knew, she would say so,” Goatley said.

The Wests tortured, raped, and murdered an unknown number of women between 1967 and 1987.

Fred West was charged with 12 murders but committed suicide in prison before his trial. Rose West was convicted of 10 murders in November 1995 and is serving a life sentence.

It has been reported that West enjoys life in prison as she doesn’t have to share a room, has access to private toilet facilities, and has a television, radio, and a CD player. She has no desire to ever appeal her sentence.

She also reportedly enjoys buying cosmetics and toiletries from catalogues.

She earns £16 per week working as an orderly at Low Newton jail, Durham.

It also emerged that Marian Partington, whose sister Lucy was killed by the couple, penned a letter of forgiveness to Rose in 2004.

Marian wrote: “I do not feel any hostility towards you, just a sadness, a deep sadness. that all this has happened, and that your heart could not feel a truth that I wish you could know.”

West rejected the forgiveness and requested that she “cease all correspondence”.