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SERIAL killer Rose West can now barely walk after three decades behind bars — and is shunned by her fellow prisoners.
The 71-year-old rarely leaves her jail wing and is increasingly frail and isolated.
Serial killer Rose West spends most of her days alone in her prison cell knitting and talking to the TV
The fiend, now 71, languishes in a room for the disabled on her prison wing because she can barely walk
West was jailed for life in 1995 for murdering ten women and girls with husband Fred
New details of her life have emerged after she was jailed for life in 1995 for murdering ten women and girls with husband Fred in Gloucester.
Other inmates spurn her attempts at friendship, and she often eats tomato soup in her cell alone for breakfast, before a day of knitting and watching nature documentaries.
She calls herself Jennifer Jones after changing her name by deed poll in 2020, but everyone knows her real identity at the women-only HMP New Hall near Wakefield in West Yorkshire.
A source told The Sun: “She’s in a disabled room now because she can barely walk.
“She never really leaves the wing she’s held on and is escorted all the time by prison officers if she goes anywhere.
“Sometimes she sits in the communal areas on her own.
“No one talks to her because everyone knows who she is and what she did, even if she has changed her name.
“When I was there, she tried to make friends with the other women and gave them gifts, like vapes, but she was rejected.
“She likes to watch nature documentaries on the TV in her cell, especially ones about birds.”
Rose received ten life sentences in 1995 after embarking on a murder spree with Fred in the 1970s and 1980s.
She has resigned herself to dying in prison despite claiming she is innocent.
Her husband, who buried several of the victims at their home in Gloucester, escaped justice by killing himself on remand, aged 53.
The couple’s horrendous crimes have come back into the spotlight after the release of new Netflix docuseries Fred and Rose West: A British Horror Story.
West has now spent nearly 30 years in prison, with regular transfers due to threats of violence from other lags.
She has been at New Hall for six years and enjoys a cushy life. But insiders said she sometimes lashes out at staff if she does not get her own way.
Incredibly, she also still receives letters from twisted “fans”.
A source said: “She can be quite abusive to officers if she doesn’t get what she wants and she’s very set in her ways.
“If she asks for something and it doesn’t happen within five minutes, she’ll get the hump.
“No one wants to talk to her or be close to her. She sits in the social areas around everyone else just to annoy the other women, knowing they don’t want to be around her.
“Often she’s just in her cell on her own and the other prisoners can hear her talking to the TV if they walk past.
“Her hair is grey now and she’s put on some weight but she still looks the same and she still wears her glasses.
“She never gets any visitors but still gets loads of post and cards from sick admirers on the outside, which has to go through security checks before it gets to her.”
Whenever West walks anywhere in the prison she is surrounded by guards for her own safety.
Since she abandoned her attempts to appeal her conviction in 2001, she is understood to be resigned to dying in prison.
Before moving to New Hall, she spent 11 years at Durham’s Low Newton. It is believed she was moved on after fellow serial killer Joanna Dennehy made threats towards her.
Before that she was at HMP Bronzefield, in Ashford, Surrey. However a plot to attack her with a sock filled with pool balls was uncovered and she was moved.
West is now being held in a special unit at New Hall known as Rivendell House, named after the Elvish world in Lord of the Rings.
Each of 30 prisoners has an en-suite cell and the communal areas are “more inviting” than other blocks in the prison, according to inspection reports.
Inmates can tend to chickens which roam the grounds of the two-storey accommodation block.
Raised flower beds and manicured lawns are also designed to form a “psychologically informed environment”.
Lags held there can take part in yoga and knitting classes and there are also film nights.
AlamyDespite changing her name, everyone knows Rose’s real identity at the women-only HMP New Hall near Wakefield in West Yorkshire[/caption]
AlamyWest has been at New Hall for six years and enjoys a cushy life[/caption]
Each prisoner is allocated a laptop which they can use from inside their cell to select their menu choices for the week.
The Sun previously revealed that West had written letters to pals on the outside about her joy at taking part in the prison book club.
Hinting at her cushy life, she wrote: “I love stories, I like hearing stories being read, and also I have enjoyed taking part. It’s really good to be able to join in with something that doesn’t mean too much stress.”
In 2019, West applied to take part in a project knitting woollen “angel wings” for bereaved families who had lost their babies at birth.
However that was met with uproar and her attempt was swiftly rejected.
West is one of 36 women serving life sentences at the jail, and one of around a dozen over the age of 60.
She is allowed a comfortable life behind bars despite her ongoing refusal to help investigators find the remains of 20 other rumoured victims of her and her husband.
The couple are known to have killed at least ten women and girls — the youngest being Rose’s eight-year-old stepdaughter Charmaine.
Their daughter Heather, 16, was murdered in June 1987 and buried under the patio after being abused by her parents all her life.
Their other known victims were Lynda Gough, Carole Ann Cooper, Lucy Partington, Therese Siegenthaler, Shirley Hubbard, Juanita Mott, Shirley Anne Robinson and Alison Chambers.
Some lived with the couple, while others were abducted from the street.
Fred also killed lover Ann McFall and first wife Catherine Costello.
The couple’s home on Cromwell Street, Gloucester, was demolished after their horrific crimes came to light.
Chilling footage seen for the first time in the new Netflix series shows Fred at his home, handcuffed to detectives, helping them to identify bodies in the garden.
He never faced justice as he killed himself on New Year’s Day 1995 in his cell at HMP Birmingham, awaiting trial.
In 2021, police began searching for the body of Mary Bastholm, who was 15 when she disappeared in 1968.
Detectives made it clear they would quiz West if they found the teenager’s remains in the basement of a Gloucester cafe once frequented by Fred.
But Mary’s body was not found and West was ultimately never questioned.
Ten victims of Rose and Fred West
Horrors hidden for years
FRED and Rose West’s gruesome killing spree went undetected for decades.
The couple raped, tortured and killed at least 12 women and girls between them, from 1967 to 1987.
Their atrocities came to light in 1994 after their children told social workers a sister — Heather, who had not been seen since 1986 — was “under the patio”.
Detectives then uncovered the remains of nine women and girls at 25 Cromwell Street, Gloucester.
Rose had met Fred in 1969 when she was 15 and he 27.
She became pregnant with Heather, and looked after Fred’s two daughters from a previous marriage, Charmaine and Anne Marie.
Charmaine was eight when murdered by Rose in June 1971.
Her mum Catherine was also killed.
After giving birth to her second child, Mae June West, Rose started working as a prostitute at the house.
The Wests also lured lodgers to their death.
Lucy Partington, Juanita Mott and Shirley Hubbard were found in the basement.
Therese Siegenthaler was hidden under concrete in front of a false fireplace.
Police also discovered lodger Lynda Gough, whose jaw was taped to silence her, and Carol Ann Cooper.
Fred killed himself at HMP Birmingham on New Year’s Day 1995 while awaiting trial for 12 murders.
In November 1995, Rose was convicted of ten murders at Winchester crown court.
She tried to pin all the crimes on Fred. An appeal was refused.
She is one of only four women to be given a whole life order, along with triple killer Joanna Dennehy, baby murderer Lucy Letby, and Moors Murderer Myra Hindley, who died in 2002.
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