By Jackie Storer BBC News Website

Mr Bennett says it's hard to come to terms with what the Wests did

The news of former detective superintendent John Bennett's book comes on the 10th anniversary of Rose West being jailed for life.

On 22 November 1995 she was given 10 life terms at Winchester Crown Court.

The discovery of bodies at the Wests' house in Cromwell Street, Gloucester, shocked the nation.

Fred West suffocated himself while on remand but his wife was convicted and has been told she will never be freed. She is now in Bronzefield, a brand new prison near Ashford, Middlesex.

Mr Bennett always vowed he would never write a book about the case.

But after years of being quizzed about the truth, the myths and the stories around the murders, he has finally relented.

House of Horrors case Feb 1994: Police begin digging up garden of 25 Cromwell Street, Gloucester. 1 Jan 1995: Fred West hangs himself while on remand in Winson Green jail, Birmingham. Oct 1995: Rose West goes on trial at Winchester Crown Court accused of 10 murders, including that of her daughter Heather 22 Nov 1995: Rose West is given 10 life sentences. Home secretary later decides she will never be freed from jail. The trial of the century Watching foul murderess

"The Cromwell Street Murders - The Detective's Story" is Mr Bennett's attempt to give the answers to the questions that have plagued him over the last decade.

He says that on every anniversary - this week it is 10 years since Rose West was jailed - reporters, authors, film and documentary-makers always seek him out for a comment.

"I have had reporters and people writing books who have phoned me and raised a matter and I have said that isn't true, but they have said they have read so-and-so.

"As this went on I realised it was time to draw the line - why should I keep being asked these questions year in, year out?

"I also genuinely realised there was no definitive account of this police investigation.

Mr Bennett was awarded the Queen's Police Medal for his work

"The reporters speculated, surmised, added their own pieces in to make the story read the way they thought it should read.

"The involvement of the agencies, especially social services and witness support, the proper organisations that made this thing work got lost in what was the horror of it all.

"It seemed to me whichever way I looked at it, this was unfortunately a historic thing too and it seemed right that if that was the case, somebody ought to write it properly."

Folklore

And so two years ago Mr Bennett, 60 - a man more used to filling in police reports - sat down and began to write.

After five or six chapters he reviewed his work and realised he had been talking in the third person. What he needed to do was personalise the piece.

Why it is still being brought up is because it is so hard to come to terms with John Bennett

"I'm not an 'I' person because there is no 'I' in team. I found it very difficult saying 'when I did this and when I did that'. It was always a team effort," he said.

He says the book is not about financial gain - he has even used a local firm in Stroud to publish it.

But it is about dispelling some of the folklore that has built up around the Wests - like stories that Fred had an incestuous relationship with his mother.

"There isn't anybody alive who has ever said that," said Mr Bennett, who retired from Gloucestershire Police in 1998.

"I have explained how the case really started, how the identification process took place, the involvement of the agencies, all the ups and downs, twists and turns and on to the appeal," he said.

"I have tried to answer the major questions. It isn't a book about Fred and Rose West. If people want to speculate, see their history, their background and detail, they can go elsewhere."

Sadness

So what had the biggest effect on him during the investigation and the trial?

I have yet to see any emotion from that woman at all - there were no tears John Bennett

"Genuinely what hit me at the time and it's not something I reflect on, is the true sadness of it all," he said.

"Why it is still being brought up is because it is so hard to come to terms with.

"That those two could do the things that they did and live in the home that they lived in with nine victims underneath them, including their first daughter, and live - to their neighbours and those that they came into contact outside their depraved world of sex - a normal life and be the type of people that were considered to be a family unit.

"Whichever way you look at it, there is an air of disbelief.

"You know that it happened, you know as a police officer you shouldn't think that anything is unusual really, but to try to make sense of that is difficult."

'In denial'

The married father and grandfather says he could not have written the book without the support of the Gloucestershire force, or its chief constable Timothy Brain.

I would hope that she would feel it right to cleanse herself of what she's done and face it, but then I'm thinking she would want inner peace John Bennett

He says he has not spoken to the victims' families about it. He is also doubtful that Rose West will ever give up the innermost secrets of Cromwell Street.

"She has maintained this being in denial from the beginning," he said.

"It's been made clear that she's not going to be released - of course that could change - but if she was, where would she go?

"I have yet to see any emotion from that woman at all. I was close to where she was at the trial - there were no tears.

"She might have wanted there to be, but they didn't come. But then, that doesn't surprise me.

"I would hope that she would feel it right to cleanse herself of what she's done and face it, but then I'm thinking she would want inner peace.