ITV cancels Fred and Rose West documentary at the last minute due to 'legal reasons'
A repeat of Trevor McDonald’s On Death Row was aired instead
Viewers were left confused when ITV made the last-minute decision to pull documentary Fred and Rose West: The Real Story with Trevor McDonald from the schedules on Thursday 31st January.
The programme, which was set to shed new light on the crimes committed by the killer couple, was cancelled due to “legal reasons” with an ITV representative confirming to RadioTimes.com that it will now be scheduled to broadcast at a later date.
A statement reads: "Broadcast has been postponed for legal reasons and the film will be scheduled for a later date".
The controversial new documentary was set to explore the involvement of Rose West in the couple’s shocking rapes and murders, questioning whether she was the driving force behind the crimes.
The couple were convicted of raping, torturing and murdering a number of women in a series of crimes that shocked the nation between 1967-87, with one of their victims being their own daughter Heather.
More like this
While Fred West died by suicide while in prison in 1995, Rose was convicted of nine murders, receiving 10 life terms, and is expected to be kept in prison indefinitely.
The Real Story was also set to talk to a former lodger who lived with the Wests.
Appearing ahead of the documentary’s previously billed broadcast, Belinda Mott, the sister of West’s victim Juanita Mott, called for the death penalty to be reinstated.
“This is where the death penalty, I feel is needed, when it is without a doubt, there is no doubt at all, she was involved because Charmaine [West] was killed whilst Fred was in prison and in Rose’s care,” she said on This Morning.
“So there is no doubt, she is a killer. We were destroyed by it.”
