Derby Fire: Philpotts Face Jail Over Deaths

Mick Philpott, who killed his six children by starting a house fire, stabbed a previous girlfriend 13 times, a court has heard.

Nottingham Crown Court was told that Philpott was jailed in 1978 for stabbing Kim Hill in an attack which left her with a broken arm and finger and such severe injuries she still needs to take medication today.

As the judge prepared to sentence the 56-year-old and his partner Mairead, 32,  for starting the blaze at their Derby home in the early hours of May 11 last year, the court heard of his previous crimes.

Philpott had also been cautioned for slapping Mairead and dragging her by her hair from the house.

The judge, Mrs Justice Kate Thirlwall, said that she was troubled by Philpott's attitude to women.

She heard that Mairead had devoted her life to bringing up the children and that they were "happy children" despite their unusual living arrangements.

In mitigation, Philpott's lawyer said that he was "a very good father" and "loved those children".

Anthony Orchard QC said: "He will have to live with the hatred and hostility of the press and the public for the rest of his life."

Back (L-R) Duwayne and John, Front (L-R) Jack, Jessie, Jade and Jayden

He said that already Philpott "faces hostility from other prisoners on a daily basis".

The couple, along with friend Paul Mosley, devised the plan to burn down the family home but rescue the children in a bid to frame Lisa Willis, Philpott's former girlfriend.

Philpott was fighting a custody battle with Miss Willis, who had lived with the couple and slept with Philpott on alternate nights while living at the house.

Both women were said to have lived happily with one another for a decade but Miss Willis left Philpott three months before the deadly fire taking her five children, four of whom were fathered by him.

Jade Philpott, 10, and her brothers John, nine, Jack, aged eight, Jesse, six, Jayden, five, and 13-year-old Duwayne, all died as a result of the petrol-fuelled blaze that tore through their three-bed council house in Victory Road.

Mick Philpott tried to frame his former partner over the blaze

Mr Orchard said that the plan to set the fire had gone "disastrously wrong".

However, the judge countered that even if the children had been saved by Philpott, as intended, the experience would still have been terrifying.

She said: "If the plan had been successful the effect on the children would have been this, would it not - they would have been awoken in their beds with their house on fire and their father coming in to rescue them,"

Jurors at Nottingham Crown Court returned guilty verdicts on manslaughter charges for the pair and co-defendant Mosley, 46, on Tuesday after an eight-week trial.

The trio had planned to get all six children into one bedroom at the back of the house so Philpott could play the hero and rescue them with a ladder stationed in preparation.

Brothers Jamie and Darren Butler, who live on the same road as the Philpotts, described how the Philpotts did nothing to help rescue their children and stood like "a couple of statues".

Mick Philpott, who was known locally as Shameless Mick for his lifestyle, tried to frame his former partner over the blaze

Assistant Chief Constable Steve Cotterill's disbelief captured on camera

He had previously told police that Miss Willis was harassing him and had threatened the family.

The fire was far bigger than the trio expected and unemployed Philpott - father of 17 children from five women - climbed up a ladder at the back of the house to discover he was unable to smash a large enough hole in the bedroom window.

Firefighters found the youngsters' lifeless bodies in each of the three upstairs bedrooms.

Yesterday Sky News revealed that Assistant Chief Constable Steve Cotterill of Derbyshire Police suspected Philpott as he watched his reactions during a news conference.

He said that officers had been surprised when Philpott wanted to speak to the media five days after fire.

Mr Cotterill said his misgivings were betrayed in a single photograph, taken as he sat alongside Mick, and his wife Mairead.

Philpott was keen to play out his 'grief' in front of the media

He said: "In one particular photograph, what I saw there was a guy who was sat there pretending to cry and I've described it as a bit of a sham of a performance and I didn't believe that he was genuinely overcome by grief.

"I thought he was playing to the cameras."

Mr Cotterill said prior to the news conference Philpott seemed "overly excited by the prospect of going to face the media given what had taken place and given that he had lost six of his children in that fire".

He said that following the conference Philpott had "inappropriately" asked a family liaison officer to marry him and faked a faint.

It was a comment echoed by the mortuary manager at a Derby Royal Hospital, who said that Philpott had pretended to faint when he saw his children's bodies for the first time.

Marie Smith, said that Philpott also asked for alcohol and engaged in horseplay with a police liaison officer days after the tragedy while bemused staff looked on.

She said that Philpott had apparently fainted and did not respond to her attempts to bring him round until she threatened to call for medical assistance.

She said: "He still didn't respond so I instructed a member of staff to call a doctor for assistance and as soon as I said, he woke up, he recovered very, very quickly ..."

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