Fred West: No human remains found in Mary Bastholm search

Fred West apparently told his son he had killed Mary Bastholm, but police say he "told a lot of lies" during the 1994 investigation

No human remains have been found by police searching a cafe in Gloucester for a suspected victim of the serial killer Fred West.

Officers have been searching for Mary Bastholm, 15, who worked at the Pop-In Cafe - now called The Clean Plate. She was last seen in 1968.

Gloucestershire Police began excavating the cafe cellar in Southgate Street on 19 May and said it had finished.

Miss Bastholm's family said they were sad but hoped she would yet be found.

They said: "We were hoping to get a final closure on her disappearance so that we could put her to rest.

"We have been open-minded throughout this process and we now know that the cafe can be ruled out.

"Mary was a strong willed and happy-go-lucky teenager dearly loved by her parents and two brothers.

"She enjoyed life and was just coming into her own when her life was tragically cut short."

Police said the cellar was carefully examined by the forensics team

Police started excavations after a TV production company filming at the site said it had found blue material in the cellar, suggesting Miss Bastholm might possibly be buried there.

She was last seen wearing a blue jacket with a blue and white dress and was carrying a blue bag.

However, police have confirmed no blue material was found in the cellar and what the production team saw was likely to have been part of a pipe.

It said it was "appropriate and proportionate" to investigate and forensic archaeologists and anthropologists had been focusing on six voids beneath a toilet floor.

Assistant Chief Constable Craig Holden said the cellar had been "methodically and meticulously investigated"

"Everyone working on this is disappointed that we didn't find Mary," Assistant Chief Constable Craig Holden said.

"Allowing her family to finally lay Mary to rest after over 50 years was always the most important reason for our excavation.

"I hope that eliminating this location will bring some comfort, however small to her family.

"We have always been clear that we may not find Mary's remains. Sadly that proved to be the case, but it does not mean we were wrong to look - the new information made it the right thing to do."

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The force said the anomalies were identified by experts who concluded the remaining areas of the cellar had been undisturbed since before Miss Bastholm disappeared.

"Each area was carefully examined by the forensics team with support from officers from the constabulary," a spokesperson said.

"The team worked each day, everything that was dug up was analysed on site and all activity was meticulously logged and photographed."

Experts arrived in Gloucester last week to begin the painstaking work

Miss Bastholm went missing in January 1968 on her way to catch a bus to visit her then boyfriend Tim Merrett.

He said when the excavations began he thought it was unlikely police would find Miss Bastholm in the cafe because she had no reason to return there.

In a statement her relatives said:"[Mary's] parents and two brothers were never the same after she went missing. They have now sadly passed away without ever knowing what happened to their loving daughter and sister."

West, who was a regular at the Pop-In Cafe, took his own life in 1995 while in prison awaiting trial, accused of the murders of 12 women and girls.

The cafe is due to be handed back to its owners once reparation work has been completed.