The woman who lodged with Fred West for a year - and survived

Kathleen Richards was 17 when she rented a room in the house owned by Fred and Rose West

A woman who survived a year living with Fred and Rosemary West has detailed her experiences in a book about her time at 25 Cromwell Street in Gloucester.

"You never think you're living with murderers - that wouldn't even enter your head," says Kathleen Richards.

Kathleen and her sister Deirdre were 17 and 18 when they knocked on the front door of the home of two of the UK's most notorious serial killers.

That fateful day was nearly 50 years ago and the teenagers were looking for a safe place to live.

"There was 10 of us [at home] and our house was only a two-bed so I was asked to leave and help my sister with her baby," says Kathleen.

"We'd been told there were rooms which were quite cheap at 25 Cromwell Street and they were known to be a friendly, helpful and very nice couple…"

With her book, Under Their Roof, Kathleen is hoping to support other survivors of abuse

That couple was Fred and Rose West who preyed on vulnerable women, including their own daughter who died at their hands.

Fred killed himself in prison in 1995 before he could be tried on 12 murder charges while Rose was convicted of murdering 10 young girls and women.

After years of living with the trauma of her time there Kathleen, now 65, has written a book - Under Their Roof - detailing her experience of living with the Wests for a year as a teenager.

She says she has carried feelings of guilt for decades after hearing about the murders the Wests carried out.

Kathleen said she does not want people to feel sorry for her but she hopes that sharing her story will give strength to other survivors of abuse.

'Peep holes'

When the sisters first arrived Fred gave them a tour of the house.

"He pointed to a young girl, Shirley Robinson, and said 'this is my lover', which I thought was really strange because she looked the same age as me and he was an old man... so I thought it was a joke, a bit silly," Kathleen says.

Looking back, she said she could see things were unusual from the start but at the time she did not realise what was going on in the house.

There were holes in the walls of their room, "like peep holes", but because Fred was always busy doing odd jobs they assumed it was random projects he had started.

Kathleen would fill the holes with rolled-up newspaper or twigs but they would always be on the floor by the morning.

"At 17, it wouldn't come into your head that it was anything other than the children playing," she says.

Kathleen Richards has written a book about her experience, titled Under Their Roof, sharing her story of what it was like living with the Wests

Kathleen soon became friendly with teenager Shirley Robinson who told her she was pregnant with Fred's baby.

"I would not really take a lot of notice of it," she says. "I thought she's probably joking and said to her, 'Is this the joke you play with all the new lodgers?'"

When Shirley disappeared in May 1978, Kathleen said she assumed she had gone to hospital to have the baby.

"Back then, you could stay [in hospital] for a few days and after two or three days I got the courage to knock on the Wests' door," she says.

"He opened it and I said, 'I'm just asking about Shirley, have you seen her?'... and he said, 'Oh, her' like he didn't know her."

Fred told Kathleen that Shirley had gone back to Germany and he shut the door.

"I thought it was really weird because she never mentioned anything," she adds.

Shirley's body and that of her unborn child were later found buried in the garden at 25 Cromwell Street.

Kathleen said she blamed herself for not going to the police about the Wests when she was a teenager

After Shirley disappeared, Fred's behaviour changed towards Kathleen.

"He started to grope me in the hallway as I walked by and pushed right into me on the stairs," she says.

"I thought he was a dirty old man and I just need to get away from him.

"Those days were completely different to now. It was a normal thing."

But it got worse and he would be pushing her against the wall and "putting his hands everywhere".

She said she would scream out but no-one paid any attention.

One day, Fred grabbed her as she was walking out of the house, telling her he wanted to "play some games" with her.

"I was screaming and it was raining. Rose came out and grabbed my other arm and tried to pull me back," she says.

A man walked past and, as Fred lifted his hand to wave, Kathleen was able to break away.

Kathleen had been abused as a young girl when she lived in Dublin, Ireland, and she said when West was groping her, she thought "it was the norm".

Fred once grabbed Kathleen telling her he wanted to "play games"

However, when she went to bed ill one day and woke up to find Fred in her bed she knew she had to leave.

"I could smell him. I'll never forget the smell because he had this horrible dirty smell which was vile. I was absolutely terrified," she says.

West told her to come down and watch a video with him and Rose.

"I was just thinking how am I going to get out of this. I had pyjamas on and he'd been fiddling his hands everywhere and I just said, 'Yeah I'll come down, I just need to get dressed and I need to go to the loo' and he said, 'Okay, we'll have some fun'.

Kathleen was also abused as a young girl when she lived in Dublin

"As soon as he was out that door, I jumped out of that bed, crept down the stairs, opened the door and just ran, crying in the rain, to the bus station to meet my sister," she says.

Her sister said they had to return to get their things, and for Kathleen to change out of her pyjamas, so they returned for the last time.

"I sat on a chair all night, then at around 5 o' clock... [when] it got a bit bright, we put whatever we could in a bag and left baby clothes in case Shirley came back," she adds.

That day, Kathleen went to stay with their brother in Gloucester.

Although she wanted to report West to the police, she thought "he's a respectable guy, he rents rooms, who's going to listen to me? I'm a nobody".

Everybody thought they were "a lovely couple."

Fred and Rose West were both arrested in 1994

Years later after hearing news reports about what the Wests had done, she said was in shock and felt "absolutely horrendous".

She was also "petrified" after being asked to testify at Rose West's trial but she still did not share what had happened to her in the house.

It was only about five years ago that she finally opened up to her husband Mike - previously believing that if she told anyone, she could be prosecuted for not speaking about what happened to her sooner.

With her daughter's encouragement, she took the decision to write about her experience.

She said writing the book had taken "a massive weight off" her.

Kathleen said she hoped her book might help others and she urged other survivors to "talk to someone and get it out of your head because it sat in mine too long".

Kathleen said she was "petrified" when she was asked to testify at Rose West's trial