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Glasgow Live
Glasgow Live
National
Stuart MacDonald

Fred West: The Glasgow Girls uncovers killer's life in city and Castlemilk ice cream van horror

Serial killer Fred West's years living in Scotland are to be probed in a major new documentary series.

Sky has announced they have commissioned a three-part series called Fred West: The Glasgow Girls which will investigate how his life of crime began in Scotland in the 1960s and how this period shaped who he would become.

West and his wife Rose murdered at least 12 young women at their house in Gloucester over a 20-year period from 1967.

READ MORE: Ann Heron murder and why the Glasgow mum's killer remains a mystery today

The programme will uncover "the hidden lives and experiences" of his first three victims - his first wife, Rena Costello, her daughter Charmaine and her friend Anne McFall.

Made by Glasgow based production company IWC Media, it will look at whether clues were missed regarding West's criminal behaviour during his time in the city.

Rena Costello was born in Coatbridge in 1944, where her family lived in Calder Street, and when she married West in 1962, the couple's first home was in Hospital Street in the town.

They later moved to Savoy Street in Bridgeton, and then to McLellan Street in Kinning Park. West drove a Mr Whippy ice-cream van for a living.

A description of the series, which will be broadcast on Sky Crime next year, reads: "Uncovering the hidden lives and experiences of his first three victims - his first wife, Rena Costello, her daughter Charmaine and her friend Anne McFall, Fred West: The Glasgow Girls investigates how his life of crime began in Scotland and how this period shaped the serial killer he would become.

"Led by a female creative team, this distinctive crime series poses questions that haven't been asked before on this subject. Why were repeated warnings about Fred West's abusive behaviour ignored?

"Why were these victims never reported missing? And crucially, how many lives could have been saved if Fred West had been stopped sooner, before he met Rosemary, before the horrors at Cromwell St?"

West married Rena at Ledbury in 1962, when she was pregnant with another man's child. She gave birth to Charmaine in 1963.

Charmaine disappeared when she was eight-years-old and is thought to have been murdered by Rose West while 26-year-old Rena's remains were found in a field after she vanished in 1971.

Glasgow-born Ann McFall became the nanny to West's children. Her remains, and those of their unborn baby, were found in a field at Kempley, near the killer's home village of Much Marcle, Herefordshire.

In November 1965, West ran over and killed a four year old boy in Castlemilk with his ice cream van but was never charged. He left Glasgow soon after.

West hanged himself in Winston Green Prison, Birmingham, on January 1, 1995, just before facing a murder trial.

The majority of the murders, including that of Fred's daughter Heather, who was buried under a patio, took place at the West family home at 25 Cromwell Street, Gloucester.

The documentary series was announced by Sky alongside other upcoming factual programmes on mixed martial arts fighters and whales.

Poppy Dixon, Sky's Director of Documentaries and Factual, said: "From celebrating talented, young, underrepresented voices in an exciting growth sport, to asking uneasy questions about one of Britain's most notorious killers, to using cutting-edge technology to listen to the natural world with new ears, we are thrilled to be showcasing such an innovative, thought-provoking and entertaining range of true stories on our factual slate."

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