UK couple faces jail for killing 6 children in fire
Source: Agencies |
April 4, 2013, Thursday
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MICK Philpott presented himself as an amiable rascal with an unorthodox lifestyle and a rambunctious brood of children - 17 in all, with five women.
The 56-year-old Englishman's ramshackle existence took a horrifying turn when he and his wife set a fire that killed six of the children, in an attention-grabbing plan that prosecutors said "went disastrously and tragically wrong."
A judge said she would sentence Mick and Mairead Philpott for the manslaughter of Jayden, Jesse, Jack, John, Jade and Duwayne, aged 5 to 13. The May 2012 deaths and the twisting saga that ensued have horrified and fascinated Britain.
Before the fire, Mick Philpott was something of a local celebrity, nicknamed "Shameless Mick" after the television program about a disreputable working-class clan, who had appeared on a daytime talk show defending his lifestyle.
In 2007, a Conservative lawmaker stayed at his home for a week as she filmed a critical documentary about the country's welfare system.
The trial furnished details of Mick Philpott's life with his 32-year-old wife, his girlfriend and as many as 11 children in a three-bedroom social housing property in Derby.
Threesomes
The jury - and the nation - heard of threesomes and public sex, of Philpott's controlling behavior, and of his claim that he had not washed for 12 weeks before the fire. At times three adults and 11 children lived in the house, but shortly before the fire girlfriend Lisa Willis moved out, taking her five children. Mairead and Mick Philpott's five children and Mairead's 13-year-old son from a previous relationship remained in the home, and died in the blaze.
After the fire the Philpotts made an emotional televised appeal, with Mick describing how he had battled the flames to try to save his children.
But police soon grew suspicious of the couple's erratic behavior, and bugged a hotel room where they were staying. The jury was played recordings of Mick Philpott asking his wife: "Are you sticking to the story?"
The couple was arrested two weeks after the fire and charged with murder, later downgraded to manslaughter.
Prosecutors said the couple hatched a plan to start the gasoline-fuelled fire and then rescue the children, pinning blame on Willis, so Mick Philpott could gain advantage in a child custody battle.
The couple and a friend, Paul Mosley, were said to have planned to get all the children to sleep in one bedroom so that they could be rescued through a window when the fire started. Mosley was also convicted of manslaughter.
The 56-year-old Englishman's ramshackle existence took a horrifying turn when he and his wife set a fire that killed six of the children, in an attention-grabbing plan that prosecutors said "went disastrously and tragically wrong."
A judge said she would sentence Mick and Mairead Philpott for the manslaughter of Jayden, Jesse, Jack, John, Jade and Duwayne, aged 5 to 13. The May 2012 deaths and the twisting saga that ensued have horrified and fascinated Britain.
Before the fire, Mick Philpott was something of a local celebrity, nicknamed "Shameless Mick" after the television program about a disreputable working-class clan, who had appeared on a daytime talk show defending his lifestyle.
In 2007, a Conservative lawmaker stayed at his home for a week as she filmed a critical documentary about the country's welfare system.
The trial furnished details of Mick Philpott's life with his 32-year-old wife, his girlfriend and as many as 11 children in a three-bedroom social housing property in Derby.
Threesomes
The jury - and the nation - heard of threesomes and public sex, of Philpott's controlling behavior, and of his claim that he had not washed for 12 weeks before the fire. At times three adults and 11 children lived in the house, but shortly before the fire girlfriend Lisa Willis moved out, taking her five children. Mairead and Mick Philpott's five children and Mairead's 13-year-old son from a previous relationship remained in the home, and died in the blaze.
After the fire the Philpotts made an emotional televised appeal, with Mick describing how he had battled the flames to try to save his children.
But police soon grew suspicious of the couple's erratic behavior, and bugged a hotel room where they were staying. The jury was played recordings of Mick Philpott asking his wife: "Are you sticking to the story?"
The couple was arrested two weeks after the fire and charged with murder, later downgraded to manslaughter.
Prosecutors said the couple hatched a plan to start the gasoline-fuelled fire and then rescue the children, pinning blame on Willis, so Mick Philpott could gain advantage in a child custody battle.
The couple and a friend, Paul Mosley, were said to have planned to get all the children to sleep in one bedroom so that they could be rescued through a window when the fire started. Mosley was also convicted of manslaughter.
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