Fred West died by suicide in prison in 1995 while awaiting trial for a string of horrifying murders. But when the news was broken to Rose, her reaction was unnervingly calm, a former prison governor has revealed to

Vanessa Frake-Harris, who was at Holloway Prison in North London at the time, described in her interview with the Sun how Rose thought Fred’s death meant she could shift the blame for their joint crimes solely onto him.

She said: “I told her along with the duty governor that Fred had committed suicide, and there was no emotion. She blinked a couple of times and then said, ‘Oh right’.

“She didn’t even flinch — nothing had altered in her expression. No tears, no nothing — just that glazed stare. The level of control and ­dissociation was staggering.

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“I firmly believe she felt that with Fred dying, she would get off all of the charges.

“There was almost a glint in her eye as if to say, ‘OK, he’s dead — he can take the rap for it. I’m happy to plead to the lesser charges’.

“Fortunately for all the victims and survivors, she was convicted.”

Now, a new three-part docuseries Fred and Rose West: A British Horror Story is revisiting the case that shocked the nation.

Together, the Wests raped, tortured and murdered at least 12 women, burying many of their victims in the cellar and under the patio of their house at 25 Cromwell Street in Gloucester between 1973 and 1987.

Vanessa, who spent three months overseeing Rose ahead of her trial, said the convicted killer was surprisingly charming and compliant – but with a sinister edge.

She said: “Rose was very compliant and charming. She did what she was told, when she was told to do it. She was no problem to the staff.

“But you always felt there was an underlying sense that she was full of her own importance. And I had no doubt she was guilty.

“Like a typical narcissistic psychopath, she is devoid of any kind of emotion — very manipulative, lacking in empathy, no remorse.

“She could be very charming to those in her circle — for us, that meant the prison staff — and willing to do whatever it took to appear totally different to the person she actually is.”

Vanessa said Rose, now 71 and serving a whole life tariff at HMP New Hall in West Yorkshire, presented herself like a harmless relative – knitting constantly, dressed in cardigans and sporting oversized glasses.

The former governor said: “We used to call her ‘Auntie Rose’ because she was just like the old auntie you’d pop round to see for tea and cakes, and because she had the big glasses and knitted all the time.

“She had this real sing-song way about her, saying ‘Mor-ning’ in a chirpy kind of way. She was never any bother. She just wanted to knit.

“At the time we didn’t allow ­knitting needles in, but the governor made an exception because West was kept in the segregation unit.

“She was separated from the ­general population, not only for her safety but the safety of others.”

Rose was convicted of ten murders and handed ten life sentences at Winchester Crown Court in 1995. In 1997, then-Home Secretary Jack Straw imposed a whole life tariff – making her only the second woman after Myra Hindley to receive such a sentence.

Vanessa, who wrote The Governor: My Life Inside ­Britain’s Most Notorious Prisons , added: “When she was ­sentenced in court, there was no emotion, and that’s the typical trait of a psychopath.

“She is a very complex character. She has many facets and Rose West will do what Rose West wants when Rose West wants to do it.”