A new Channel 5 documentary examines the grisly crimes of Fred and Rose West, including the death of Mary Bastholm – but where is her body?
Have her remains ever been found?
And did Fred West admit to killing her?
Here’s everything you need to know about the latest on Mary Bastholm and the C5 documentary Fred and Rose West: The Search for the Victims.
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Mary Bastholm body: have her remains ever been found?
Police have not yet found the remains of Mary Bastholm’s body.
They recently searched a cafe in Gloucester for the suspected victim of the serial killer Fred West.
Officers believed they might find the remains of Mary Bastholm, who was 15 when she disappeared without a trace.
Gloucestershire Police began excavating the cafe cellar in Southgate Street on May 19.
They started excavations after a TV production company filming at the site said it had found blue material in the cellar, suggesting Miss Bastholm might possibly be buried there.
But police found nothing connected to the teenager.
At the time, Miss Bastholm’s family said they were sad but hoped she would yet be found.
They said: “We were hoping to get a final closure on her disappearance so that we could put her to rest.
“We have been open-minded throughout this process and we now know that the cafe can be ruled out.”
Assistant Chief Constable Craig Holden added: “We have always been clear that we may not find Mary’s remains.
“Sadly that proved to be the case, but it does not mean we were wrong to look – the new information made it the right thing to do.”
Mary Bastholm body: Who was she and what’s her connection to Fred and Rose West?
Mary worked at the Pop-In Cafe – now called The Clean Plate.
Eyewitnesses last saw her in 1968, wearing a blue jacket with a blue and white dress.
Mary was also carrying a blue bag.
Miss Bastholm went missing in January 1968 on her way to catch a bus to visit her then boyfriend Tim Merrett.
Fred West regularly visited the Pop-In Cafe at the same time Mary worked there, and had also done some building work there.
He often met his lover, Anna McFall, at the Pop-In Cafe.
She became his first murder victim after falling pregnant in 1967.
Police were convinced teenager Mary Bastholm was also a victim, when they charged Fred and Rose West with 12 murders in 1994.
Fred took his own life in 1995 while in prison awaiting trial, accused of the murders of 12 women and girls.
Rose remains in prison.
She is currently in HM Prison New Hall, Flockton, West Yorkshire.
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Did Fred West confess to killing her?
Fred and Rose West denied murdering Mary Bastholm.
But, in a chilling interview unearthed by the Channel 5 documentary Fred and Rose West: The Search for the Victims, Fred appears to confirm their guilt.
Fred is heard saying on tape, recorded by a legal team: “The girl, Mary Bastholm, remember I said that to you in the car.
“I had to go back and give her a [bleep] sorting out.”
The couple are known to have killed 12 victims.
However, their son Stephen West, previously revealed his dad had confessed to murdering Mary Bastholm and 30 others before he hanged himself in prison in 1995.
Rose West’s lawyer Leo Goatley is also convinced Mary was the 13th victim.
Fred and Rose West: The Search for the Victims on C5 – what’s it about?
The two-part documentary examines the crimes of the infamous serial killers Fred and Rose West.
The Channel 5 doc reveals the true horror of what took place at 25 Cromwell Street and other addresses in Gloucester over the course of many years.
The programme looks at recent police efforts to find the body of Mary Bastholm.
In the interview tapes with police made after Fred’s arrest in 1994 for the murder of his daughter Heather, he says: “I didn’t grab her round the neck to choke her or anything.”
He later insists none of the women “went through hell. Enjoyment turned to disaster”.
Fred and Rose West: The Search for the Victims airs on Monday June 07 2021 at 9pm on Channel 5.
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