Arshad claimed he killed his wife after she had killed their children

But police hope that now Arshad has been convicted and jailed for life for the murders the real reason behind what happened that night will come out.

In court Arshad claimed he could not remember what happened, that he just "blanked out" and the next thing he remembers he was washing the blood off his rounders bat in the bathroom.

He also claimed at one point he killed his wife after she had first killed the children.

But Det Supt Martin Bottomley said these were just some of the many lies Arshad told throughout his trial.

"Arshad has chosen to tell a tissue of lies from start finish," he told BBC Radio Manchester. "His defence has been completely ridiculous.

Three officers went in and were faced with a really gruesome scene Det Supt Martin Bottomley

"He has said he came home after taking the kids out in Blackpool to find them in the front room apparently sleeping and then went upstairs and the next thing he knows he's waking up in the bath with a rounders bat.

"It just doesn't stand up to any credible explanation."

Arshad may have claimed he "blanked out" but Det Supt Bottomley says the sight of Mrs Rahad and her three children bludgeoned to death in their home in Cheadle Hulme is an image his officers can never erase.

"Three officers went in and were faced with a really gruesome scene," he said.

"The team are dealing with murder day in and day out, but none of the officers have come across anything like this before.

"We only have to think of what's going through his mind when he lays those children down on the front room floor and batters them to death one by one. It's so horrific we can't put it into words."

The bodies were undiscovered for weeks

Arshad had told friends and neighbours the family was going on holiday to Dubai but it emerged during the trial that it was just another lie. He had actually booked tickets to Thailand for himself instead.

"Neighbours presumed the family away." Said Set Supt Bottomley, "but a close neighbour became more concerned as the weeks went by.

"She looked through the letterbox and was confronted with a terrible smell - which is when she called the police."

Detectives say although Arshad offered no pattern of events that evening, they think Uzma was killed first upstairs and then Arshad took the children downstairs from their beds one at a time, lined them up and slaughtered them.

Det Supt Bottomley said: "He has never shown any regret for what happened. The only time he appeared to show a flicker of remorse was when he was first arrested after coming back from Thailand.

Uzma's family will obviously never get over the devastating events, but they need closure Det Supt Bottomley

"He said: 'I don't regret killing that bitch, but my kids, killing my beautiful kids'."

He speculated that taking them to Blackpool just before he killed them was about have a "final few happy hours" with them.

There have been many theories as to what triggered events - particularly that Uzma had been having an affair - but Arshad has never confessed.

But now he has been convicted Dept Supt Bottomley says the family deserve to know the truth.

"I hope that once he gets to prison and sits back and reflects, he'll come clean and in private perhaps, through a probation officer or a prison officer, let the family know what went on and what was going on in his mind," he said.