Entertainment

ITV cancel Fred and Rose West documentary ‘for legal reasons’

The broadcaster said the programme has been scheduled for a later date.
The broadcaster said the programme has been scheduled for a later date. The broadcaster said the programme has been scheduled for a later date.

ITV have cancelled a documentary about Fred and Rose West “for legal reasons” just hours before it was due to air.

The programme was set to feature Sir Trevor McDonald bringing a new perspective on the brutal murders which horrified the nation.

People at the heart of the shocking events in Gloucester were set to speak for the first time about the couple on Fred & Rose West The Real Story with Trevor McDonald.

ITV pulled the show just hours before it was due to air, citing legal reasons for the change of schedule. It was replaced by an episode of Trevor McDonald’s Death Row.

National Portrait Gallery new portraits
National Portrait Gallery new portraits Sir Trevor McDonald was to shed new light on the killer couple. (Simon Frederick/NPG)

A spokeswoman for ITV said: “Broadcast has been postponed for legal reasons and the film will be scheduled for a later date.”

The broadcaster would not give further details about the reasons for pulling the show, which was to suggest that Rose West was as violent as her murderous husband.

Fred met Rose when she was 15 and he 27. The pair’s Gloucester home became the site of rape, murder and child abuse in a string of crimes to which Fred West confessed in 1994, before killing himself the following year.