Police launched an investigation after a heap of bones were found next to the childhood home of ROSE WEST.
Gavin Crowther, 53, made the ghoulish find when he was renovating a fireplace in the house next door to where the 60-year-old serial killer lived as a child.
He immediately rang police and warned them about the property’s links to House of Horrors monster West, who was convicted of ten murders in 1995.
Forensic officers arrived at the Mr Crowther’s home in Plymouth, Devon, to remove the bones before sending them to experts for analysis.
And to his relief they turned out to be a collection of animal remains, probably belonging to a cow or sheep.
The news cameraman had moved into his 150-year-old property in Benbow Road 11 years ago but only recently found the time to tear out an old gas fire and replace it with a wood burner.
As he dug down through soot and ash to reach the hard surround he came across what looked like vertebrae, a rib and a femur hidden in a recess.
Mr Crowther said: “The area in the left hand corner was soft kept going down and down.
“Then I started finding these bones and thought it was a bit suss.
“It looked the right size for a small child. It was a bit of a shallow grave scenario.
“What didn’t help was I knew Rose West was reported to have grown up in the house next door.”
According to her biography, Rose West – known as Rosie Letts at the time – arrived in Plymouth in 1962 at the age of eight.
She and two of her brothers lived in Benbow Street in an upstairs flat until 1964.
Mr Crowther was told to hold off any more DIY until the origin of the bones could be confirmed by Professor Sue Black, a forensic anthropologist and director of the Centre for Anatomy and Human Identification at Dundee University.
Her department was quickly able to reassure both police and Mr Crowther that the bones were not human.
Gavin said: “All the officers who looked at them in the house were unsure.
“If it was a cat or dog, you would have expected the bones to be smaller, and given the history of the street, I think we all wanted to be sure.”
West is locked up for life at top security Low Newton jail in Durham
Her evil husband Fred committed suicide in prison while awaiting trial for his role in their torture and murder spree.
