A new three-part documentary on Netflix, Fred and Rose West: A British Horror Story, explores the devastating case of the Wests, a couple who between them abused and murdered (at least) 12 young, vulnerable women. Two victims were their own daughters, Heather and Charmaine.
One of the women who lost their lives at the hands of the Wests was Juanita Mott, 18, whose sister, Mary-Ann Mitchell, tells Cosmopolitan UK was a "loveable rogue" who adored the 5-year-old sister she shared a 13-year age gap with.
It wasn't uncommon for Juanita to run away from home owing to her difficult family life, and so alarm bells weren't immediately raised when she vanished in April 1975.
"She'd come see me and bring a big bag of sweets. She'd pop out of nowhere just to see me, not even to go home, but just to see me," Mary-Ann says, when reflecting on the limited memories she has of her much-loved sister. "She'd meet me from school just to help me cross over the road - because I had to go to my aunt's to wait until my mum had finished work - so she made sure I got across safely."
Mary-Ann, who also appears in the Netflix series, says heartbreakingly it took almost 20 years for her family to get answers. In that time they spoke to newspapers and scoured the phonebooks, trying to raise awareness of Juanita or track her down, wondering if she'd escsped their turbulent family home in order to set up her own life elsewhere – or questioning if she could have fallen in with a bad crowd during one of her periods of running away from home.
When Juanita's body was eventually discovered in the cellar of the Wests' home on Cromwell Street on 7 March 1994, it wasn't a total shock: Mary-Ann recalls how not long before she'd been sat with her older sister, Belinda, and something about the Wests came on TV.
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It was an appeal to families with missing loved ones to reach out to police if they suspected their missing person could have come into contact with the Wests at any point.
"We both looked at each other and said, 'We've got to phone'," Mary-Ann tells Cosmopolitan UK in an exclusive interview. "I was 24 [at the time] and we were just sat there chatting with a cup of tea, with the telly on in the background, and we caught the word 'Gloucester'. We were having a listen and said, 'That's too close to home, we've got to put Juanita's name forward for that'.
"We told our mum and she refused to believe it, saying 'It won't be her, she'll be home now that she's seen that'. Obviously she wasn't. That was the start of my mum going downhill."
Despite Juanita being 13 years older than her, and Mary-Ann being just five when she disappeared, the siblings were close.
"Wherever she went, she took me with her. When she was home, that was," she shares. "She used to tell everybody I was hers anyway, nobody ever actually believed that, but, you know, that's, that's how she felt."
Mary-Ann remembers how "Juanita would come back, stay for a little while and then go again. But she always came back to see me, always. So I know at that moment, when she was fighting for her life, she was thinking of me.
"I bet there's scars on Rose and Fred, and I bet she caused them."
As for what she'd say if she ever had the opportunity to meet Rose West, the surviving killer behind her sister's murder, who is currently serving a lifelong prison sentence, Mary-Ann doesn't mince her words.
"My wish is that she followed in her husband's footsteps and did what he did [Fred West committed suicide in 1995 ahead of his trial]. That's my feeling," she states with candour, adding that she feels anger that Rose's prison upkeep is being paid for through public taxes. "I don't think the taxpayer payer should be paying for her. I go to work and I know part of my wage goes to her. To keep her there with three meals a day, that gets to me. I don't think she should be there, [we should] bring back the death penalty."
The trauma of losing her sister and in such a violent way is what motivates Mary-Ann to share Juanita story, in the hope of keeping her memory alive in a respectful way and to comfort others who have also lost someone in tragic circumstances. She admits to being a true crime fan herself, saying it brings a strange comfort to know she isn't alone.
"I think part of me needs to feel that I'm not the only one going through it, and I'm not the only one it's happened to," says Mary-Ann. "This [new Netflix series] is about the families and how we're dealing with it. More than it is those two. I know it's all connected, but it's not dwelling on them and wanting to know what we feel about them. It's how we are and how we feel about our loved ones."
Juanita's memory is kept alive by Mary-Ann through pictures all around the house, and on her birthday (1 March) will pay tribute.
"I don't commemorate her death - because I have no clue when it was - but I think 'Let's remember the day that she was put on this earth'. We raise a glass and light a candle for her every year."
Jennifer Savin is Cosmopolitan UK's multiple award-winning Features Editor, who was crowned Digital Journalist of the Year for her work tackling the issues most important to young women. She regularly covers breaking news, cultural trends, health, the royals and more, using her esteemed connections to access the best experts along the way. She's grilled everyone from high-profile politicians to A-list celebrities, and has sensitively interviewed hundreds of people about their real life stories. In addition to this, Jennifer is widely known for her own undercover investigations and campaign work, which includes successfully petitioning the government for change around topics like abortion rights and image-based sexual abuse. Jennifer is also a published author, documentary consultant (helping to create BBC’s Deepfake Porn: Could You Be Next?) and a patron for Y.E.S. (a youth services charity). Alongside Cosmopolitan, Jennifer has written for The Times, Women’s Health, ELLE and numerous other publications, appeared on podcasts, and spoken on (and hosted) panels for the Women of the World Festival, the University of Manchester and more. In her spare time, Jennifer is a big fan of lipstick, leopard print and over-ordering at dinner. Follow Jennifer on Instagram, X or LinkedIn.
