Police have released an image and footage of a cellar where the body of a possible victim of the serial killer Fred West may be buried.
Officers are excavating six “voids” in the basement floor of the Clean Plate cafe in Gloucester as part of an investigation into the disappearance of 15-year-old Mary Bastholm more than half a century ago.
The image and footage show chalk markings on the floor, which highlight areas for surveying work. On Thursday specialists were seen going into the building carrying shovels, and the sound of drilling could be heard.
Gloucestershire police have said the work at the cafe in Southgate Street, where Mary worked, will take at least two weeks.
The police investigation began after a TV company working on a documentary about Mary’s disappearance in 1968 found two voids in the basement. Experts drilled into one of the voids and a cadaver dog seemed to indicate there could be something in the hole. They dropped a camera down and spotted what appeared to be blue material.
When Mary went missing she was wearing a blue coat and a blue and white dress, and had a blue bag.
The documentary team passed on their findings and police found four more voids.
DCI John Turner, the senior investigating officer, has said the search will be painstaking. He said the operation was made more tricky by the cramped nature of the site. Turner also said the building’s long history meant it was possible other remains – not those of Mary – could be found.
Turner said there had been buildings on the site since Roman times. “We can’t rule out finding other remains, that’s why we have the anthropologist onboard so we can gauge exactly what we’re dealing with.”
West is said to have confessed to his son, Stephen, that he killed Mary, but he did not admit it to police. The girl’s body was not found during the 1994 excavation of the Wests’ home on Cromwell Street in Gloucester.
West was charged with 12 murders and 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.
There have been conflicting reports about whether West was a regular at the cafe, whether he did any building work in the basement, or if he knew Mary.