Retired sewer worker Anthony Foster said he and a coworker saw the ‘female’ arm float past them ‘quite quickly’ while they were carrying out work on an underground network
Fred and Rose West are believed to have had access to a vast underground ‘world’(Image: SWNS)
A sewer worker has revealed the moment he discovered a “floating female arm” linked to monster serial killers Fred and Rose West in an “underground network” of tunnels.
The discovery was made in a large underground network(Image: GlosParanormalInvestigSVC / SWNS)
Last year a sinkhole appeared in Gloucester unveiling a 22-mile “secret” network of tunnels under the city near Cromwell Street that West is believed to have had direct access to. Further evidence of its potential use by West has now emerged after Mr Foster spoke out for the first time about the severed human hand he found with a colleague.
Detectives at the time had linked it to the monsters but no identity of the potential victim was ever made. Mr Foster said he was carrying out inspections and maintenance work in the sewers under Spa Road with a co-worker.
He said: “It was roughly 1988 when we found a human hand in the sewer. We reported to police and got interviewed by CID, and then when Fred West and Rose West got caught we got re-interviewed. So it’s on record. When Fred and Rose West got caught the police thought it could’ve had some connection, they could’ve been disposing bodies.”
Urban explorers recently uncovered evidence that is believed to show 22 miles of interconnected tunnels passing through many of Gloucester’s major sights. Some of the subterranean chambers are just yards away from the so-called House of Horrors in Cromwell Street. Mr Foster said he was working underground near the Nelson pub and the sewer line had run through Spa Road.
The discovery was made as the sewer workers probed under Spa Road(Image: SWNS)
He added: “We found out later on that it wasn’t too far away from Fred and Rose. All I know is what we seen that day, a human hand… a female human arm, severed to about the elbow, just below the elbow, and it just looked feminine. It floated past quite quickly.”
Mr Foster said cops initially thought it had to be a mannequin as there wasn’t any links to missing girls and it happened six years before the West’s crimes were uncovered. He added: “The police first of all passed it off as a mannequin because there was no report of missing people. This is before the West’s crimes were uncovered.
“The other lad I was with has died now but we had both seen the arm with our own eyes. I still think it’s connected to Fred and Rose.” Mr Foster added: “At hospitals we used to find baby foetuses. You know, I dunno how they got down the toilet, but we used to find baby foetuses, and that was rat’s food. We used to find a lot of human skin.”
West is also known to have had contracts to carry out works across the city that would have given him access to the underground network, locals claim. Despite this, some authorities have continued to refuse to acknowledge their existence – with some speculating there is concern it would open a ‘huge can of worms’ in relation to the infamous killers. West was charged with 12 murders but took his own life in prison in 1995, aged 53, before his trial. Rose West was convicted of 10 murders in November 1995 and is serving a life sentence.
Police were called to investigate and linked the grim discovery to Fred and Rose West(Image: GlosParanormalInvestigSVC / SWNS)
One long serving council employee, who agreed to speak on condition of anonymity, had said previously: “There are a lot of people high up that are very, very twitchy about the tunnels. There are plenty of reasons for it too, but I’m pretty sure the main one is to do with Fred West. He did a lot of work under the city – a lot of work. And it’s anyone’s guess what could be down there. It’s a can of worms, and no one wants to touch it.”
Speculation was heightened among the community in May 2021, when the Clean Plate Café on Southgate Street saw extensive excavations take place in its basement as part of an investigation into the unsolved disappearance of local girl, Mary Bastholm in January 1968. Fred West was said to have been contracted to carry out various building and construction work in the basement of the café, and previous excavations at that site.
In the 1990s during the police investigation into the Wests, some blue fabric and part of a school exercise book were recovered from a hidden space behind a wall in the basement of the cafe, believed by many to have belonged to Mary. However, when the area was re-examined by investigators in 2021, it was found that in the intervening years, the void had been mysteriously backfilled, preventing any further investigation of the site.
And local speculation about the potential dark secrets being contained within the tunnels mounted again when a recent storm exposed a sinkhole in the city. The so-called House of Horrors in Cromwell Street, which has since been demolished, was located just a couple of minutes walk away from known entrances to the ‘underground world’ in Eastgate. There are other multiple locations believed to access it, including the Cross Keys, the Fleece Bar, the Monks Retreat and around the cathedral.
Fred West is believed to have had intimate knowledge of the underground network(Image: GlosParanormalInvestigSVC / SWNS)
One local added: “We know back in the 80s Fred West had the contract to do building maintenance work and had access to it.” Another explorer even said they had visited the tunnel from a bar’s basement close to where Fred was known to have done work and felt the ground change to a ‘spongy’ surface at one point.
They said: “We went down there and it opened up into a massive cellar. We noticed a spongy floor at the end of the tunnel by jumping up and down on it. We did not know much about Fred West connections to the place, but it felt like there was something under that ground. We were looking at going back but it was set on fire and you can not get into it anymore. We thought it was odd but it was only when we mentioned it later to someone in authority, they turned white. It was then feared Fred West could have used it for bodies.”
Locals say that in places entrances have been blocked up, with some speculating the city is trying to “whitewash” its associations with Fred and Rose West. One said: “They don’t want this place under the glare or spotlight and a lot of this has been managed. People don’t want our city to be most famous for Fred West but you can not escape what has happened. You can not whitewash history and pretend it never happened.
“It is still so shrouded in mystery. How can authorities deny the tunnels exist when so many people have seen them? Everyone knows they are there. Whatever the reason only fuels the local speculation. Entrances are blocked up but if there is nothing to be seen, then let us down there. A lot of cities have tunnels, it is not usual, but why are Gloucester’s shrouded in secrecy.”
Much is still not understood about the tunnels beneath Spa Road(Image: SWNS)
Paul Cowmeadow, of Gloucester Paranormal Investigation Services, said the presence of the tunnels was not in doubt. He said: “There are rumoured to be over 22 miles of tunnels under the city of Gloucester, which would make sense based on the publicly known archaeology of the city dating back to the Roman times.
“There are entrances to the tunnel network from the cellars of several pubs in the town centre and we’ve seen them. The Fleece Hotel, which is now closed, has got an entrance in the basement that goes into a tunnel that’s been bricked up and it seemed to be heading under Westgate Street in the direction of the cathedral.
“It’s also well-known that there are old tunnels in the Café Réné bar on Southgate Street. It’s believed that the tunnel system was used for several purposes over the centuries, ranging from smuggling, to the English Civil War, and then later in World War Two it is rumoured that the secret services and military also made use of them.”
