Fred West: Future victim searches need strong justification, say police

Experts spent weeks at the Clean Plate cafe in the centre of Gloucester

The bar "has to be set high" if police are to carry out further digs to look for victims of serial killer Fred West.

In May, Gloucestershire Police spent weeks in a cafe after a TV crew contacted them in relation to missing teenager Mary Bastholm.

But despite an operation costing nearly £80,000 and involving about 130 officers, no remains were found.

The documentary, which airs on ITV on Wednesday, claims other sites should be excavated.

Mary Bastholm, aged 15, disappeared in 1968, and no trace of her has ever been found.

A police forensics tent was erected at the back of the Clean Plate cafe during the search

Because West was a regular customer at the Clean Plate Cafe in the centre of Gloucester, which was called the Pop-In Cafe when she worked there in the 1960s, the suggestion she may have been one of his victims has gathered pace over the years.

The team making Fred and Rose West: Reopened for ITV contacted police after finding anomalies in an area of the basement, including what appeared to be blue material.

Mary was wearing a blue jacket when she disappeared on the way to see her boyfriend on 6 January.

• Fred West: Who was he and what did he do?

• The 12 victims of Fred and Rosemary West

Gloucestershire Police began excavating the cafe cellar in Southgate Street on 19 May, in an operation that involved archaeologists and anthropologists.

But on 27 May it was announced the painstaking work had not found anything to suggest Mary was buried there.

Mary Bastholm was 15 when she disappeared

The ITV programme claims there are several places in and around Gloucestershire, including farmland, that should be investigated further to see if West had more victims.

But the Gloucestershire Police and Crime Commissioner Chris Nelson said any further digs would need strong evidence in place before they began.

"We did spend quite a lot of money on this [the Clean Plate excavations], almost £80,000, and there were about 130 officers who, perhaps, could have been used on other things," he said.

"So I think the bar has to be set high before you any other digs like that. It's a big ask."

Graham Gardner covered the West murders as a reporter in the 1990s

Former BBC reporter Graham Gardner, who reported on the West murders and co-authored a book on the subject with Ch Supt John Bennett who investigated the killings, rejected the idea that the original investigation had ignored some leads.

"Places that are now being talked about, that seemed to have gained credibility through the passage of time as being somehow overlooked or not taken seriously by the investigation team...is an insult to them and an insult all the police that were involved in the investigation," he said.

A police forensics team spent several days in the cellar of the Clean Plate cafe

Fred and Rose West: Reopened airs at 9pm on Wednesday on ITV.