Fred and Rose West's sister reveals why she forgives perverted serial killers

The sister of one of the victims of Fred and Rose West revealed why she forgives the perverse serial killers.

On December 27, 1973, The Wests kidnapped Lucy, Marian Partington's 21-year-old sister, at a bus stop in Cheltenham.

More than 20 years later, the remains of a student from Exeter University were discovered in the basement of 25 Cromwell Street in Gloucester.

Now, Marian has spoken to a BBC documentary Inside Out West aired 25 years after the revelation of the terrible series of murders.

"For me, Lucy's life was sacred and I needed to get her back as a person, as a sister, in light of what had happened," she said. .

"Then it turned out that the only way out of this situation was to move towards forgiveness, but I did not know what that meant, nor how it could be possible, but I sworn to try to forgive the Westerners. "

The couple tortured, raped and murdered an undetermined number of women over a 20-year period, between 1967 and 1987.

Fred West has been charged with 12 murders but has committed suicide in a Birmingham jail prior to his trial.

Rose West was convicted of 10 murders in November 1995 and is currently serving a life sentence.

Marian added, "The first thing I experienced was a murderous rage, so I realized that it was the beginning of my journey to forgiveness.

"I have details about Rosemary West's childhood – family violence, neglect and abuse, and [I have tried] imagine what it would look like to grow up with very little love.

"I do not see how there could be cruel actions that are not rooted in anything else, something that has happened in someone's life.

"But then, people will always say that it's not an excuse.

"And I say very clearly that I do not forgive Westerners what they did, but I forgive them as people for whom there did not seem to be any other way of life."

Marian kept a little woolen bag that her younger sister gave her at the age of eight.

"She gave it to me as a gesture of love and when I look at it, I still remember it," she said.

"At the commemorative ceremony, one of her friends described her as" indelible, "as though she had left a mark on people, that she had touched people's lives."

The documentary will be broadcast on BBC One West at 7:30 pm Monday.