Lucy Letby did not “bang on the table” to protest her innocence but instead had anticipated her arrest, a leading detective in the case has revealed.

Detective Superintendent Paul Hughes said her unusual but “controlled” manner during police interviews raised suspicions that she had been expecting a police visit.

The Cheshire Constabulary officer, who led the investigation, claimed that for someone arrested for the first time and in connection with eight murders and six attempted murders of babies, Letby appeared remarkably “calm”.

“She was emotionless, she cooperated, she answered the questions,” he said in an interview with the Mail on Sunday. “It was surprising, this was someone who had never been involved with police before in her life.

“She’s arrested for eight murders and six attempted murders and brought into custody – at no point did she appear to be struggling with anything.

“She was quiet, she wasn’t obstructive, she dealt with everything, she was controlled. There was no banging on the table, at no point did she say, ‘You’re saying these babies have been killed. I cared for these babies, go and find the killer, it’s not me’.”

He added: “There was very much an acceptance that we were going to come and knock on her door at some point.”