THE ELDEST daughter of alleged serial killer Frederick West yesterday told a court she was raped more than 300 times by her uncle when she was a young girl.
Ms Anne Marie Davis, now 32, claimed Mr John West sexually abused her twice a week for three years at 25 Cromwell Street, Gloucester. The attacks ended when she ran away from the West family home when she was 15.
Bristol Crown Court heard that the alleged assaults on her and a younger girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, came to light only in 1994, while detectives were probing the activities of Fred and Rosemary West.
Winchester Crown Court last November sentenced Rosemary West to 10 life sentences for her part in a 15-year history of sexual torture and murder.
Mr Brian Leveson QC, prosecuting, said that John West (54) was not involved with his brother and sister-in-law. He urged jurors to ignore the intense media coverage given to their case last year.
"This case is not, I repeat not, about those events," he added.
Mr John West, a former council dustman, is alleged to have raped Anne Marie while visiting Cromwell Street with his dustcart.
Giving evidence, auburn-haired Ms Davis, a mother of two, recalled in tears how she was 10 or 11 when John West first raped her in a ground floor bathroom. She claimed her uncle subsequently forced her to have sex about twice a week over a three-year period.
Mr Nigel Pascoe QC, defending, asked: "You were raped by your uncle over 300 times? Is that really the truth?"
"Yes," she replied.
"And you were never interrupted?" he asked.
Said Ms Davis: "You must try and understand the regime of that household. It was very much sexually orientated there and we were never told that anything that was happening was not a normal family environment.
"Rosemary was a very dominating character and we would never go against her wishes."
Earlier Ms Davis sobbed into a handkerchief as she told the jury her uncle raped her and Rosemary West "basically laughed it off" when she mentioned the assault to her step-mother.
"When I told Rosemary about it she said there was nothing to worry about. It was perfectly all right. It was of no consequence."
Mr John West sat in the dock watching intently as his niece gave her evidence. He denies raping and indecently assaulting her more than 15 years ago.
Mr West, a married man, of Curlew Road, Abbeydale, Gloucester, also denies a rape and indecent assault on a young woman aged between seven and nine at the time of the alleged attacks.
The trial continues today.