Sir Trevor McDonald and an ITV documentary team were the first to discover evidence of human remains linked to serial killer Fred West in a Gloucester cafe, it has been reported.

The film crew uncovered evidence of a body buried in the cellar of the Clean Plate Café, in Southgate Street, which police believe could be connected with missing teenager Mary Bastholm.

It is believed the team were filming a follow-up series to the 2019 documentary Fred & Rose West the Real Story with Sir Trevor McDonald.

"It is understood the discovery came about when the team producing this documentary, which is being fronted by Sir Trevor McDonald, brought in ground-penetrating radar and sniffer dogs to look for human remains,” reported ITV News on Tuesday.

"When they found grounds for further investigation, that's when they contacted the police.

"This was just one of a number of locations they [the film crew] were looking at following claims there were more victims of the Wests."

Mary was last seen waiting for a bus to go and see her boyfriend in 1968 and has never been found.

Her parents have since passed away without ever finding out what happened to their daughter.

Leo Goatley, Rose West’s former lawyer, suggested Mary may have been Rose and Fred West’s first victim in the book Noose, Lamella and the Gilded Cage: Understanding Fred and Rose West.

Speaking in 2014, Mary’s brother Peter Bastholm called on Rose West to reveal what happened to his sister.

He told Sky News at the time: “I think Rose knows exactly what happened to Mary because I assume she and Fred discussed it between themselves. Whether she will ever disclose it, I really don’t know.”

The pair are known to have murdered 10 young women and girls and Fred to have killed at least two more on his own.

Rose West, now 67, remains in jail at HMP New Hall in West Yorkshire - still protesting her innocence - while Fred West committed suicide in 1995 after he confessed to rape, murder and child abuse.

This included the nanny to his children, his stepdaughter, his first wife and a sexual partner who was pregnant with his child.