November 2015

Fred and Rose West friends jailed for life for sex abuse campaign against 10 children

A paedophile friend of serial killer couple Fred and Rose West has been jailed for a sex abuse campaign against 10 children.

David Williams was described as ‘sick’ by a judge for his perverted behaviour towards youngsters and was caged for a minimum of 23 years.

Victims applauded from the public gallery as the 57-year-old was led away from the dock to begin his sentence.

One shouted he should “rot in hell”.

His wife Pauline, 52, who a judge said “aided and abetted” and “encouraged” her husband’s abuse, will serve a minimum 12 years after also being convicted of several sexual assaults.

The historic offences were committed between 1991 and 2004 while the couple lived in both Gloucester and in Exeter, Devon.

For part of the time, the pair lived in Cromwell Road and David Williams had previously boasted of a friendship and connection to the Wests, who were locals at the Prince Albert pub he ran in Gloucester.

But what was described as the couple’s “facade of innocence” was blown open after a victim contacted police in 2013 to report an historic rape.

Several further victims were quickly identified by officers and after hearing harrowing evidence of rape, sexual assault and violence, the pair were found guilty of a string of charges after a six week trial at Exeter Crown Court .

David Williams of Bradninch, Devon, was convicted of ten rapes, 13 indecent assaults, five counts of gross indecency, two of cruelty, and one of sexual activity with a child.

Pauline Williams was found guilty of two rapes and five indecent assaults. They were found not guilty of eight other allegations involving two other complainants.

Sentencing them in Exeter today, Judge Erik Salomonsen said only a life sentence was appropriate for David Williams because of the danger he presents to children and the scale of his offending.

He said: “You were convicted by a jury of more than 30 offences involving ten children over 13 years.

“Your behaviour towards children was sick. You had no conscience in using young people for your perverted sexual pleasure.

“The police investigation was triggered by one complaint many years after you had raped her.

“The consequences of your actions had been lasting.”

Addressing Pauline Williams the judge said: “You aided and abetted your husband to rape young girls on several occasions.

“On one occasion you encouraged him to rape a victim so that she might become pregnant following your third miscarriage.

“You encouraged him and made jokes about what was happening.

“One victim said you were brainwashed by him and after a time you became as bad as him. Another described you as evil.”

The judge, who made short reference to the couple’s friendship with Rose and Fred West during the sentencing, also read several victim impact statements.

One victim said: “I would just like the tears and nightmares to stop. I live in fear of being kidnapped or being raped again.”

Another said: “There is not a day that goes by I don’t think of the violence and abuse. My innocence was taken from me and never got it back.”

A further victim said: “I struggle to believe my life is worth living.”

Mitigating for Pauline Williams, Joss Ticehurst said: “She was very much in the shadow of David Williams.

“While his behaviour was going on she was laughing and passing comment and she did not stop it and ought to have done. Though she was emboldening him, she was not the cause of what David Williams was doing.

“She was as much under his control as anybody else.”

David Williams was described as having such “complex health problems” and that every day for him in custody will harder because of his disabilities.

October 2015

Fred and Rose West’s friends found guilty of horrific child abuse campaign

A couple who were friends with serial killers Fred and Rose West have been convicted of a 15-year campaign of sexual abuse against children.

David and Pauline Williams became pals with the Wests when they lived close to their notorious Cromwell Street address in Gloucester in the 1980s and 90s.

The killers who between them slaughtered 12 young women and girls over a 20-year period – were also regulars at a pub the couple ran in Gloucester.

Exeter Crown Court heard the Williamses became child abusers in their own right – subjecting youngsters to rapes, sex attacks and beatings.

David, 56, terrified his young victims – six girls and four boys – by boasting of his connections with the Wests.

The voyeur also set up cameras to watch his Rose West lookalike wife having sex with pub customers and friends.

He was encouraged in his campaign of child abuse by twisted Pauline, who mocked the victims during their ordeals.

The court was told how the 52-year-old carried her own sexual assaults on several of the traumatised children.

Their campaign of rape and sexual assault began in the late 1980s, when they were running the Prince Albert pub, where the Wests drank.

The married couple continued the sickening abuse when they moved to Exeter and Tiverton in Devon in the 1990s and 2000s.

Jurors heard how they initiated sex with their victims – some who were as young as seven – through sordid games of strip poker.

They also used violence to bully the victims into compliance, beating some of them with sticks or strangling them.

David told some of the children he was possessed by the devil and had received messages from his dead father telling him to abuse them.

During their six-week trial, he admitted knowing the Wests but denied using the connection to threaten anyone.

He told jurors: “Fred had a drink in our pub before he became infamous and so did his wife Rose.

“From what I remember he was a very friendly quiet man who would sit at a corner table and have a drink.

“It was Rose who was the mouthy one. She was the one with all the chomps. “I did not mention them to anyone but sometimes people asked me if I knew them because I came from Gloucester.

“The pub was round the corner from Cromwell Street. I never worked for Fred West.”

David was found guilty of ten rapes, 13 indecent assaults, five counts of gross indecency, two of cruelty, and one of sexual activity with a child.

Pauline was found guilty of two rapes and five indecent assaults on Wednesday.

The couple, from Bradninch, Devon, were warned to expected “very long” jail terms when they are sentenced next month.

Judge Erik Salomonsen told them: “You have been convicted of appalling behaviour that you meted to these children over a long period of time.

“You have been convicted on overwhelming evidence of a campaign of abuse simply for your own sexual satisfaction.

“This is very serious sexual offending which has damaged the lives of the children.”

Fred West killed himself in Winson Green prison in Birmingham on New Year’s Day in 1995 while awaiting trial for 12 murders.

Rose West, 61, was convicted of 10 murders and is currently serving a life sentence