"She Must Have Known": Trial of Rosemary West
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Book Description
The authoritative book on the Frederick and Rosemary West case by the master of the genre.
Product Description
Frederick West cheated everybody when he hung himself on New Year's Day 1995. Was this a sign of overwhelming guilt? Was West criminally insane or merely a sexual sadist of the worst kind? Brian Masters sets out to answer these questions.
Attending the Rosemary West trial on a daily basis, Masters has come up with a penetrating study of the sexual obsession that led to the measured killing of twelve women and girls. In the wake of the horrific detail of murder, sadism and torture that has come to light in the last few months, Masters, from his privileged courtroom vantage point, looks closely at how and why ordinary human beings were driven to serial killing of the most devious kind, and how an evil psychopath was able to ensnare so many in a web of unseeing complicity. He unravels with particular precision the legal means used to bring the whole matter to trial and weighs the evidence coolly and objectively.
Brian Masters has established his reputation as an authority on the criminal and psychopathic mind. This is his highly reasoned and psychologically acute look at what has become Britain's serial-killer trial of the century.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
13 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
As a criminal lawyer I obviously have an interest in true crime and have read many books on the subject. Having read some of the reviews it would appear that people have taken great exception to the fact that Masters appears to be suggesting that Rose West was innocent. I for one think that he is playing devils advocate. He gives the reader a thorough account of the investigation and subsequent trial and leaves you to form your own opinion. The fact that people perceive this as the author suggesting that Rose West may be innocent just goes to show the lack of evidence that Crown had against her.
The section which outlines the similar fact evidence and the arguments put forwards by Junior defence counsel Sasha Wass is brilliant although may be too legally technical/boring for some who are just interested in the gory details. But Masters doesnt shy away from the gory details either although he does steer away from anything gratuitous such as refusing to go in to any more detail about the horrific sexual assault that was committed against Anne Marie by Fred and Rose when she was only 8 years old.
I am perplexed that one reviewer said Masters was not able to show any empathy for anyone other than defendant and can only say they must have skimmed the many moments where Masters referred to the victims such as Charmaine, Heather and Anne Marie. That Rose West is a monster who not only allowed but participated in the sexual abuse of her own children no one can deny. And I believe that is the crux of the matter. There will be many people who dont like this book simply because it puts forward the case that Rose West may be innocent of the murders and that for many is too unpalatable.
Masters has written a truly informative and thought provoking book. Yes he can sometimes come over as being condescending to the reader. Yes it might appear to some that the book is biased towards the defendant and against the victims or witnesses who sold their stories but in truth it is a balanced account of a fascinating and horrifying crime. For my part I think anyone who wants to have an informed opinion on Rose West as a murderer should read this book.
The section which outlines the similar fact evidence and the arguments put forwards by Junior defence counsel Sasha Wass is brilliant although may be too legally technical/boring for some who are just interested in the gory details. But Masters doesnt shy away from the gory details either although he does steer away from anything gratuitous such as refusing to go in to any more detail about the horrific sexual assault that was committed against Anne Marie by Fred and Rose when she was only 8 years old.
I am perplexed that one reviewer said Masters was not able to show any empathy for anyone other than defendant and can only say they must have skimmed the many moments where Masters referred to the victims such as Charmaine, Heather and Anne Marie. That Rose West is a monster who not only allowed but participated in the sexual abuse of her own children no one can deny. And I believe that is the crux of the matter. There will be many people who dont like this book simply because it puts forward the case that Rose West may be innocent of the murders and that for many is too unpalatable.
Masters has written a truly informative and thought provoking book. Yes he can sometimes come over as being condescending to the reader. Yes it might appear to some that the book is biased towards the defendant and against the victims or witnesses who sold their stories but in truth it is a balanced account of a fascinating and horrifying crime. For my part I think anyone who wants to have an informed opinion on Rose West as a murderer should read this book.
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Brian Masters is far from being a great writer but he asks a compelling question. As he says at the end of the book, there is no doubt whatsoever that Rose West is "a terrible mother and a terrible human being" but the evidence on which she was convicted as a participant in her husband's ghastly spree of murders was far from compelling.
Fred West had killed at least twice before he ever met her and lived a secretive life into which he let no-one he didn't want to. Hundreds of people came and went from their home without it ever being remarked on. So there is nothing beyond her willing participation in non-fatal assaults on young women and her abuse of her own children to link her to his later murders. It was pretty tenuous stuff.
More widely, is there not cause to think that we jailed Rose because a) Fred had cheated justice by killing himself and b) she was just such a foul woman that it seemed OK to do so? Plenty of people openly admitted at the time that they had their doubts but were glad she was in prison.
And there is history here: the law is generally softer on women, provided that they act like sterotypical women in mens' eyes. Because of her violence, her grotesquely brazen sexuality and her devious and truculent behaviour, Rose West ended up in prison for life. Just like Ruth Ellis hanged herself by coming over as a heartless tart rather than the abused woman she really was.
Ironically, had Fred stood trial and taken the rap alone, as he did in most of his confessions, Rose might well have been acquitted. Indeed, she might not even have stood trial at all. In trying to go down alone, he brought her down with her.
Having just read Geoffrey Wansell's An Evil Love on the life of Fred West, I am personally inclined to believe her guilt and, like 60 million other people in this country, have better causes to fight. However, Masters argues the case for a retrial very ably.
Fred West had killed at least twice before he ever met her and lived a secretive life into which he let no-one he didn't want to. Hundreds of people came and went from their home without it ever being remarked on. So there is nothing beyond her willing participation in non-fatal assaults on young women and her abuse of her own children to link her to his later murders. It was pretty tenuous stuff.
More widely, is there not cause to think that we jailed Rose because a) Fred had cheated justice by killing himself and b) she was just such a foul woman that it seemed OK to do so? Plenty of people openly admitted at the time that they had their doubts but were glad she was in prison.
And there is history here: the law is generally softer on women, provided that they act like sterotypical women in mens' eyes. Because of her violence, her grotesquely brazen sexuality and her devious and truculent behaviour, Rose West ended up in prison for life. Just like Ruth Ellis hanged herself by coming over as a heartless tart rather than the abused woman she really was.
Ironically, had Fred stood trial and taken the rap alone, as he did in most of his confessions, Rose might well have been acquitted. Indeed, she might not even have stood trial at all. In trying to go down alone, he brought her down with her.
Having just read Geoffrey Wansell's An Evil Love on the life of Fred West, I am personally inclined to believe her guilt and, like 60 million other people in this country, have better causes to fight. However, Masters argues the case for a retrial very ably.
21 of 27 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Brian Masters makes a strong attempt to show that Rosemary West was innocent of involvement in the crimes of her husband, Fred West. It is true that there is only circumstantial evidence that the two were involved in the serial killing of young women who were buried in their garden. However it is certain that she collaborated with him in an earlier case of kidnapping and sexual assault - as well as in the sexual abuse of their children. Masters gets around this as best he may, and puts all the blame on Fred West, who hanged himself in prison. Rosemary West is serving a sentence for multiple murder. She is certainly guilty of many crimes, although her role in the killings committed by Fred is open to question.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Brian Masters up to usual high standard
Masters sets out his compelling interpretation of the trial of Rose West in convincing style. This is not a prurient account of events, concentrating on how Rose West,while by no... Read more
Published 6 months ago by latin diva
Hmm, not quite sure...
I have also read a number of Brian Masters' other work, and generally found his stuff to be interesting and well researched...this, not so. Read more
Published on 4 Nov 2009 by woollykitten
pants really
I believe that this book has been written by a man who 100% believes that rosemary west was innocent. Read more
Published on 27 Feb 2009 by L. Fellows
Tripe
I have read Masters other serial killer books, on Nilsen and Dahmer, and therefore should have known better than bother with this one. Read more
Published on 1 April 2008 by Ravenstone
Masters refuses to run with the pack
As someone who has a genuine interest in understanding extremes of human behaviour but no great interest in reading hysterical tabloid style accounts of gruesome crimes, I am... Read more
Published on 12 Dec 2005 by "belialofhades"
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