Derby House Fire: Mick & Mairead Philpott Guilty Of Manslaughter Of Their Six Children

Derby House Fire: Parents Guilty Of Manslaughter Of Their Six Children

Mick Philpott and his wife Mairead have been found guilty of manslaughter over the house fire in Derby which killed their six children.

A third defendant, 46-year-old Paul Mosley, was also found guilty of manslaughter by the jury at Nottingham Crown Court following an eight-week trial.

The court was temporarily cleared following an outburst in the public gallery as the verdicts were delivered on Tuesday.

Mick and Mairead Philpott have been found guilty of manslaughter. The couple are pictured here at an earlier press conference

The trio will be sentenced on Wednesday.

Jade Philpott, 10, John, nine, Jack, eight, Jessie, six and Jayden, five, died in the blaze at the semi-detached house on Victory Road in Allenton, Derby, in the early hours of 11 May 2012. Duwayne died two days later in Birmingham Children's Hospital.

As the jury delivered its verdicts in respect of Mick Philpott, he stood in the dock staring straight ahead with his hands clasped in front of him.

As the court heard guilty verdicts in respect of his wife, he shook his head and she looked down at the floor and fought back tears while clutching a tissue in both her hands.

Mosley showed no emotion as he heard the guilty verdicts.

Before leaving the dock, as the judge rose for a short break after emotional outbursts in the packed public gallery, Philpott, wearing a grey suit, white shirt and pink tie, crossed himself and was heard to say: "It's not over yet."

People in the public gallery erupted in tears and shouts as the verdicts came in.

The six young Philpott children that perished in the house fire

The children were asleep in their beds upstairs when the fire, which was set inside the semi-detached house by the front door, took hold in the early hours.

The blaze was part of a "plan" Philpott had to frame his former mistress Lisa Willis, 29, who had left the family home three months earlier.

She and her five children, four of whom were fathered by Philpott, had lived with the Philpotts and their six children for 10 years before they left in February last year.

The fire happened just hours before Philpott, who was father to a total of 17 children by five different women, and Miss Willis were due to appear at a pre-scheduled court hearing to discuss residency of their children.

The court date was postponed following the fire.

Jurors heard the blaze was part of a botched plan to blame Miss Willis, who was arrested immediately after the fire but quickly released with no further action, in an effort to get her and the children to return to Victory Road.

Prosecutor Richard Latham QC said the plan had "gone completely wrong" within two minutes because the fire was far bigger than the defendants expected.

Philpott and his wife rang 999 to ask for emergency services assistance on the night of the blaze. The majority of the emotive call was played to the court and left Philpott doubled over and sobbing in the witness box as he listened.

The court was told that he was supposed to "act the hero and victim" and use a ladder propped up against the back of the house, smash the window, and get the children out.

The plan went wrong when he climbed the ladder but found the window shut and he was unable to smash a large enough hole to get in, or to rescue the youngsters because of the intense heat and thick black smoke generated by the fire.

The children were also not in one room together. Firefighters found their lifeless bodies in each of the three upstairs bedrooms.

Samantha Shallow, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said: "Today's verdict shows that the children died as a result of the actions of Michael and Mairead Philpott and Paul Mosley when they set the fire.

""This has been a challenging and harrowing case to prosecute. I am grateful that so many people from the local community came to court and gave evidence. This cannot have been easy and I would like to thank them for coming forward and enabling us to get to the truth.

"Amid all the details of the defendants' personal lives that have come out in court, it should not be forgotten that at the heart of this case were the deaths of six innocent children."

A spectator in the public gallery shouted: "You murdering b******.

"You heard me. I told you didn't I."

"No f***** listened to me from day one."

She was escorted from the courtroom.

The judge, Mrs Justice Kate Thirwall, told the court she would sentence all three defendants on Wednesday. Barristers agreed this was best given the "emotions running high".

The judge thanked the jury following the eight week trial and seven hours 45 minutes of deliberations.

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