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Derby house fire: Philpotts killed six children in twisted plot that went wrong
Friend of Mick and Mairead Philpott also found guilty of manslaughter as the trio are branded 'evil, stupid and shameful'
A man with a history of violence and controlling younger women was convicted on Tuesday of killing six children in an "evil, stupid, shameful act" as part of a twisted attempt to frame a former lover who had dared to defy him.
Mick Philpott, 56, his wife Mairead, 31, and a friend involved in the plot, Paul Mosley, 46, were all convicted of manslaughter after setting ablaze their Derby home, meaning to blame the inferno on Philpott's former lover, who left him.
Instead, the fierce heat and smoke engulfed the home, leading to the deaths of six children aged five to 13 years, including five of Philpott's 17 children and a son of Mairead from a previous relationship.
The jury was not told Philpott had a previous conviction in 1978 for attempting to murder a woman who wanted to leave him, whom he stabbed a dozen times.
Such was Philpott's hold on women that after the fire that killed his children he got his wife to perform a sex act on the third co-conspirator, Mosley, which the crown said was carried out to keep him on side as part of the plot. Philpott had children with five partners, claiming welfare benefits for himself and forcing women in his life to hand over money to him.
He also exploited public sympathy after the fire to try to benefit from money donated for the funerals of the children, Jayden, five, Jade, 10, John, nine, Jack, eight, Jesse, six, and 13-year-old Duwayne.
On the night of the fire, neighbours tried to rescue the children from the burning house, but were beaten back by the smoke and flames. When the bodies of the children were carried out of the house by police, Philpott ran forward and had to be restrained.
Assistant Chief Constable Steve Cotterill, of Derbyshire police, said: "This was an evil, stupid, shameful act which has resulted in the deaths of five of his own children. Personally I've found it very upsetting. I've become extremely angry at the needless loss of life.
"Six little kids there that have not got the chance to grow up. Five vacant chairs on the Monday morning at that primary school must have been horrendous not only for the teaching staff but for all the other little kids there as well."
In a highly unusual move, the families of the Philpotts said they were happy with the guilty verdicts that left Mick and Mairead Philpott facing lengthy jail terms when they are sentencedon Wednesday .
Philpott's sister, Dawn Bestwick, said: "My family and I have attended court each and every day and listened objectively to all the evidence in this trial to understand what happened to our six beautiful children on 11 May 2012. Our presence in court was to find out the truth. Following today's verdict we, the family of Michael Philpott, believe justice has been served."
Mairead Philpott's family, the Duffy family, said in a statement: "[The children] were taken away in the cruellest way imaginable by the very people who were supposed to love and protect them … justice has been served and we are happy with the verdict."
As the jury delivered its verdicts in respect of Philpott, he stood in the dock staring straight ahead with his hands clasped in front of him. He shook his head when guilty verdicts were read out for his wife. She looked down at the floor and fought back tears while clutching a tissue in both her hands.
The court did not hear that, 35 years ago, Philpott crept into the home of Kim Hill after she wrote him a letter ending their relationship. Hill, who was 17 at the time, was in bed when he attacked her, knifing her more than a dozen times, before turning on her mother, Shirley, a nurse.
Philpott, aged 21 at the time of the attack, was convicted of the attempted murder of Hill and of grievous bodily harm to her mother in December 1978. He was sentenced to seven years, with the judge warning that he was a dangerous man.
But the flaws that made Philpott a larger-than-life character in his local area would also lead to his downfall. Days after the children's deaths, Philpott gave a tearful press conference where he acted like an "excited child" rather than a grief-stricken parent, raising police suspicions.
In the aftermath of the fire on 11 Maylast year, detectives put the Philpotts and Mosley up in a hotel room that was bugged. The trio were overheard checking their stories with each other.
The crown alleged the fire was started with Philpott as the prime organiser in a plan to frame his former lover, Lisa Willis, who had walked out with their four children three months earlier.
Philpott had lived in the property with Willis and Mairead, who was the mother of the six children who were killed. He had sexual relationships with both women, alternating between the two. But Willis – who said she was kept a virtual prisoner by Philpott – walked out on him, taking her five children with her, in February last year. She had one child from a previous relationship.
The fire at the council house in Victory Road took place hours before Philpott was due to face Willis in court for a custody hearing. The jury heard how Philpott had spread rumours after Willis left that she wanted to firebomb the house, all part of his attempt to frame her for the fire.
The plan was for Philpott to rescue his children and for Willis to be prosecuted for arson, the court heard. But it went horribly wrong when the blaze took hold fast. The adults escaped the house, but the six children died as they slept.
Cotterill said Philpott's behaviour at a press conference that he had chosen to give days after the fire had increased police suspicions. "After 30 years of doing what I do, I have never seen anybody having suffered that magnitude of loss deal with it in the manner in which he dealt with it," Cotterill said. "I would have expected him to be completely and utterly destroyed and, if push came to shove, not able to present himself at the press conference.
"He entered the room in quite a jovial manner as though it was a bit like an excited child, really inappropriate in my view He was the father of five children, in essence six children, who had died in his house. I didn't see it as anything to be excited about. If anything, he should be rather fearful of the experience and wary of it. I didn't see a great deal of emotion and upset."
Derby city council said a serious case review was being held into social services' engagement with the family. From 2000–2012, there was no social services involvement with the family.
Philpott also abused the goodwill of the community in Allenton, who raised more than £15,000 to pay for funerals for all six children. He demanded that any money left over should be given to his family in Argos vouchers. He also demanded that hundreds of teddy bears left outside the burnt-out house should be auctioned off and the money given to him. He told one organiser: "Shut up and just get on with it."
The trio will be sentenced at Nottingham crown court.
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