Kathleen Richards has revealed for the first time the full extent of the abuse she suffered at the hands of Fred West while living at 25 Cromwell Street, the Gloucester house where the Wests murdered at least 12 young women. In a new memoir, Under Their Roof, Richards describes how she woke up in 1979 to find West on top of her, and managed to escape the room she was renting. She later gave evidence at Rose West's trial but never told police about Fred West's assaults.
Richards, now 65, grew up in Dublin in a poor, abusive family. She was the fourth of ten children, underfed and beaten by her father. At school she was bullied for wearing urine-soaked clothes. From the age of eight, she was sexually abused by a factory caretaker and later by her maternal grandfather, who paid her a penny or a boiled potato for the acts. When she told her mother, she was dismissed.
The family moved to England, and at 17 Richards rented a room at 25 Cromwell Street. She quickly realised the couple had a dark side but felt trapped. After Fred West's assault, she fled and never returned. West killed himself in 1995 while on remand for 12 murders; Rose West was convicted of 10 murders and is serving a whole-life sentence.
Richards says she has been serving her own life sentence of trauma. Her memoir is a testament to survival and the hope that good can triumph over evil, even after decades of silence.
