Rose West's 'chilling' reaction when told Fred was dead - the 'glint' in her eye said it all
Fred West died by suicide in 1995 while awaiting trial for a string of murders he and wife Rose committed at their house of horrors in Gloucester - and when the news was broken to Rose, her reaction was unnervingly calm
(Image: SWNS.com )
Fred West ended his life in prison in 1995 while awaiting trial for numerous heinous murders. However, the revelation of his death to Rose West was met with a chillingly composed reaction, as disclosed by an ex-prison governor to the Sun.
Vanessa Frake-Harris, who worked at Holloway Prison in North London during that period, told the Sun about Rose's response to Fred's suicide, suggesting she saw it as an opportunity to pin all the culpability for their shared crimes on him alone.
Her words to the publication were: "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.
"I firmly believe she felt that with Fred dying, she would get off all of the charges.", reports the Mirror.
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"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'.
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"Fortunately for all the victims and survivors, she was convicted."
Rosemary West pictured after she had been imprisoned for life on ten counts of murder.
(Image: PA Archive/Press Association Images )
A fresh three-part Netflix docuseries titled "Fred and Rose West: A British Horror Story" is now re-examining one of the most shocking cases to ever surface in the UK.
The Wests, as a pair, committed atrocious acts including rape, torture, and murder of at least a dozen women, concealing many of their victims' bodies in the cellar and beneath the patio of their home at 25 Cromwell Street in Gloucester over a span from 1973 to 1987.
Vanessa, who monitored Rose for three months before her trial, recounted that the convicted murderer was surprisingly genial and cooperative – though with a chilling undertone.
She disclosed: "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 stated that Rose, who is now 71 and serving a life sentence at HMP New Hall, tried to present herself as a benign figure, busying herself with knitting and wearing cardigans and large glasses.
The ex-governor remarked: "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.
Shirley Hubbard was a victim of the sick couple
(Image: PA Archive/PA Images )
"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."
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Rose was found guilty of ten murders and given 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, author of 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."
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