Stephanie, a 28-year-old fraudster, recently opened up about her unsettling encounter with one of Britain’s most notorious criminals, Rose West, while serving the last three weeks of her two-year sentence at HM Prison New Hall. Rose West, infamous for her life sentence given in 1995 for the brutal murders of ten women and girls alongside her late husband Fred West, remains a chilling figure in British criminal history.
Rose and Fred West turned their Gloucester home, now demolished, into a grim “House of Horrors” where they sexually assaulted and murdered at least ten victims, including two of their own children. Stephanie, convicted of embezzling £30,000 from her employer through financial manipulation, never expected that her prison sentence would bring her face-to-face with such dangerous offenders.
In a heartfelt account for The Sun, Stephanie described her shock at sharing prison space with paedophiles, terrorists, and violent criminals after being sentenced in November 2024 for fraud. While most of her time was spent in less secure open and closed prisons, her final weeks were locked in the Rivendell unit of New Hall—a women’s prison near Wakefield.
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It was here that she met the 72-year-old Rose West, now known as Jennifer Jones. Despite West’s terrifying reputation, Stephanie recalls her initial approach as surprisingly calm and polite. “She said, ‘That’s a lovely name,’ when she learnt my name,” Stephanie recounted.
Stephanie observed a significant change in West’s routine and demeanor. Having reportedly been moved following threats from fellow convicted murderer Joanna Dennehy, West’s new environment was quieter. She spends her days watching David Attenborough documentaries, sewing, and enjoying the odd exchange of morning cereals with other inmates. Stephanie described West’s cell as tidy, filled with DVDs, and noted a peculiar affection for a mysterious “hedgehog-like” animal from Madagascar.
Their final interaction left a lasting impression. Before Stephanie’s release, West issued a stark warning: “You never, ever want to spend your life in prison like me – and if you meet anyone that’s bad, you just make sure you run to the police.”
Meanwhile, memories of the Wests’ dark past linger in Gloucester. Although the Cromwell Street house was demolished in 1996 and replaced with a footpath, locals admit to feeling a lasting uneasy energy there. Patsy Dooley, living close by, said, “It feels very strange there. There’s an eerie, cold energy. Everyone I know feels it—it’s uncomfortable and unsettling to walk past.”
The haunting legacy of Rose West and her crimes continues to echo decades after the horrors were uncovered, reminding us of the darkness hidden behind closed doors.