Who was Mary Bastholm? Missing teenager at centre of new Fred West investigation

  • Watch Rob Murphy's report

New information has potentially been uncovered about the disappearance of a missing teenager linked to Fred West.

Documentary crews filming at The Clean Plate Cafe in Southside Street in Gloucester found “possible evidence” a body may have been buried there.

Senior officers from Gloucestershire Police, who have sealed off the cafe, say it may be connected to the disappearance of Mary Bastholm.

Police will now spend two weeks excavating the site after finding "structural anomalies" made up of six "voids" in the ground.

Detectives say they found a "blue material" in one of the voids. When Mary went missing she was wearing a blue coat.

Police at the scene, where a cordon has now been set up. Credit: BPM Media

Who was Mary Bastholm?

Mary Bastholm was reported missing in the 1960s.

The 15-year-old was reported missing on January 6, 1968. Her disappearance was later linked to serial killer Fred West.

She was last seen at a bus stop in Bristol Road, Gloucester.

She had been waiting for a bus to see her boyfriend in Hardwicke, after finishing her shift at a cafe in Southgate Street.

Killer Fred West has been previously linked to Mary's death. Credit: PA

No trace of the 15-year-old was ever found but it was reported Fred West admitted to killing her while on remand in prison, prior to his suicide in January 1995.

He had been due to face 12 charges of murder relating the bodies of young women found buried at his home at 25 Cromwell Street, his previous home in Midland Road and two fields in Much Marcle.

His wife Rose was later convicted of 10 counts of murder, and is currently serving a full life term at New Hall Prison in Wakefield.

The Wests lived at an address in Cromwell Street, Gloucester.

However, she only became implicated in the Mary Bastholm case after a book published by her own lawyer, Leo Goatley, suggested her partnership with Fred West had begun earlier than commonly believed, and the likelihood Rose would have known her future husband much earlier, in 1967.

Read more: