West, 66, and her husband Fred used their “House of Horrors” home in Gloucester for torture and murders. 

Fred, who was arrested in 1994, killed himself before his trial and Rose, who in 1995 was convicted of 10 murders, blamed him for the atroci­­ties and still maintains her innocence. 

However, she was probably the driving force in the 1970s murders, says documentary Making A Monster.

Criminal profiler Paul Britton, a top forensic psychologist, was called in to help police at the time and quickly realised Fred West had not acted alone. He said: “It was originally thought he was the driving force. But he was really the liberating force, because Rose was much brighter and they became an equal partnership and she then surpassed him in the need for sexual depravity.” 

He added that had the pair not met “there is very little chance that she would have become the serial killer that we know”. 

Mr Britton said her refusal to admit her crimes was because she has to maintain “this image of herself” and “the estimation” of her friends and peers in HMP New Hall, near Wakefield, in West Yorkshire, who despise child killers. 

And he cautioned: “Remember, everyone thinks it’s done, it’s over. It probably isn’t. There are more Rose Wests.
We don’t know who they are and we don’t know where they are.” He added: “There are almost certainly more people who were hurt by the Wests that we don’t know about too.”

West has only spoken publicly to one person, crime writer Brian Masters, after her trial. 

The author of She Must Have Known, now 81, recalled: “What was so astonishing about her was that she is so ordinary. She just got on with what she was doing, which was knitting. 

“I said, ‘How do you spend your time here in prison?’ and she said ‘I am always knitting for my grandchildren, it keeps me busy’. 

“I gathered from that meeting that she was unsure of herself, embarrassed about the circus which has surrounded her name and she did not really know how to interpret what had happened.” 

He added: “She did say one thing – ‘Look, I did realise quite early on Fred was no good but I did not know he would go so far’.” 

● Making A Monster, on Crime+Investigation at 9pm on February 10.

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