Fred And Rose West’s Son, 40, Who Saw Serial Killer Parents Beat His Sister To Death When He Was Only Seven Died Of An Overdose

An inquest learned that the son of Fred and Rose West died of a painkiller overdose after telling a doctor his life wasn’t worth living.

Barry West was only seven years old when he watched his parents beat his sister Heather to death at their Cromwell Street home in Gloucester.

He died at the age of 40 on August 28 last year after being discovered slumped over a table at his supported living accommodation in Maidstone, Kent.

An inquest into his death this week learned how Barry West, who was too frightened to give testimony at his mother’s 1995 trial, had a complicated medical history.

It was told he tried to commit suicide in 2015, and that he had taken numerous overdoses, besides suffering from PTSD, anxiety, depression and chronic pain.

Barry West also fought with dissociative identity disorder, in which people may feel the presence of other identities with their own names, voices and mannerisms.

Coroner Patricia Harding, sitting at Maidstone Coroner’s Court, learned how Barry West felt abandoned by the NHS and died after injecting himself with pain-relieving medication.

Fred West killed himself in jail in 1995 while awaiting trial on twelve murder charges. His wife, 67, was jailed to life in prison without parole for ten murders.

The couple killed West’s stepdaughter Charmaine, as well as Heather.

The inquest heard how Barry West, who changed his name to Michael Moore, had an addiction to opioids, as well as a history of heroin abuse dating back nearly twenty years.

The hearing was told how he was living in supported accommodation in Maidstone after being discharged from St Martin’s mental health hospital in Canterbury on August 3.

Giving evidence at the inquest, Nicholas Esson, a mental health manager at Kent County Council, said Barry West was having trouble coping with pain and believed he had no quality of life.

He said that when he met with a social worker on August 26, just two days before he died, he said he felt abandoned by mental health services.

Nicholas Esson said that in the wake of Barry West’s death an internal investigation had been started into how better to help people during the COVID 19 pandemic.

The inquest learned how Barry West had argued with his doctor about the most suitable medicines to manage his chronic shoulder and back pain, with the serial killer’s son saying he wanted to be put on opioid medication, which he said made him happier and the most pain-free.

But the poor man never actually stood a chance, and he just became the invisible victim, and no one can perceive the pain and suffering this poor man endured.

Sadly he was born to monstrous parents, and he saw too much at a young age. Although you could hardly call them parents by any stretch of the imagination.