A writer is urging police in Scotland to investigate claims that serial killer Fred West murdered a child in Glasgow more than half a century ago.
Paul Pender believes West deliberately ran over three-year-old Henry William Feeney in November 1965 while driving a Mr Whippy ice cream van.
The boy’s death was treated as an accident at the time, but following tip-offs from local residents, Pender suspects it was an intentional act.
He told HuffPost UK: “I don’t know what the child saw but it was something West would have found compromising if the boy told his mum or dad. Either involving the boy himself or a young woman or girl, who were West’s primary targets and victims.”
At the time West was married to his first wife Rena Costello and the couple lived with their baby daughter in Glasgow’s south side.
West also kept a potting shed and an allotment at the same address, where Pender believes further victims could be buried.
Pender told The Sunday Times: “I would call on Police Scotland to investigate the site. We owe it to the victims. They should also reopen the file on the boy killed by West’s ice cream van, re-examine witness statements and talk to witnesses who are still alive.”
A spokesman for Police Scotland said there is no current investigation into West’s time in Scotland being linked to any crimes and Pender’s claims have not been probed.
They added: “Police Scotland investigate all reports regardless of what time has passed and would encourage anyone who has information to come forward.”
In 2014 writer Colin MacFarlane told the Sunday Mail he had witnessed West fleeing a gang who were trying to kill him amid rumours he was using the ice cream van as a lure to abuse children.
MacFarlane said: “At first, when West arrived in the Gorbals (an area of Glasgow), he was treated as a joke by kids like us. In fact, we thought he looked like one of Ken Dodd’s Diddy Men – a comical looking character as he handed out cones to the young girls.
“But we soon heard he had a sinister side and was abusing some of them. He often took them for wee rides in his ice cream van.”
West went on to marry Rosemary Letts in 1972 after murdering Rena, and together the pair became one of the most prolific serial killer couples in memory.
West hanged himself in prison in 1995 while awaiting trial for the murder of 12 women.
Rose West was jailed later that year for the murder of 10 women and will spend the rest of her life in prison.