Serial Killer Documentary - Mick Philpott

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On Friday 11th May 2012, a fire ripped through a
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family home in Derby in the East Midlands. Trapped inside
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and fast asleep were six young children.
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The fire brigade were in the house, flashing lights everywhere.
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I pushed to the front of the house and I
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could see the firefighters bringing the children out. Some in blankets.
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And the ambulance were trying to resuscitate some of them.
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Firefighters and paramedics battled in vain to save their lives.
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All six children died. The youngest was just five years old.
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The damage to the house is drastic, and there is
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no way that those poor six children could possibly have escaped.
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Smoke inhalation alone would have been deadly.
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But this was no accident.
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As Mick Philpott, the children's father, wept in front of
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the British public, he was hiding a sinister secret.
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He had deliberately started the fire.
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I think that the most tragic part of this case
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is the fact that six children's lives were lost in
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Mick Philpott's attempts to basically rescue his own ego.
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Nick Philpott had set out to look like a hero,
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but he'd ended up as one of the world's most
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evil killers.
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As news broke.
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Across Britain in May 2012 that six young children had
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died inside a burning family home on Victory Road in
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Allent and Derby, the entire.
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Nation were in shock.
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The parents, 56-year-old Mick Philpott and his wife, 31-year-old Miraid,
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were unharmed but completely heartbroken. Their five sons and one daughter,
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aged between 5 and 13 years old, were dead. Former
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neighbour to the Philpott's, Daniel Stevenson, witnessed the horrific event.
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My brother woke me up, and that's when I looked
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out the window, seeing thick black smoke coming from the house.
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I got out of bed, got dressed, pyjamas on, trainers,
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ran out the door, went straight to the property. Just
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wanted help, so there was no way of getting in
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through the front, so I went round the back, climbed
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over the caravan, dropped down the other side, got into
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the back garden. And I see Mick and Marie there,
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just crying, screaming, shouting.
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Despite brave attempts from the emergency services, nobody could get inside.
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The fire was just too ferocious.
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Fire coming out of the letterbox, fire coming from around
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the sides of the doors.
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By the time it was safe to enter the house,
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it was too late. Five of the children, 10-year-old Jade
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and her brothers John, Jack, Jesse, and Jayden, had all
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lost their lives. 13-year-old Duane died later at hospital. However,
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it wasn't a tragic accident. Unbelievably, the house fire was
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part of a deliberate plan. Mick Philpott had masterminded everything
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for his own benefit.
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I think that Mick Philpott did an incredibly evil and
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an incredibly selfish thing. He was essentially looking to get
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revenge for a perceived wrong against him by a woman
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who he thought was under his control.
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His story begins over 60 years ago. Mick Philpott was
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born in 1956. He grew up in Derby as part
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of a large Roman Catholic family.
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It would have been an environment in which His parents'
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attention was diluted across many children, so he wouldn't have
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been the center of attention by any means. And we
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know that his mother worked very hard. She had a
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job at a factory that she only retired from when
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she was quite old. So he didn't appear to come
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from an unusual background by any means.
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In 1975, aged 19, Philpott joined the army. He began
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to show signs of a violent temper, especially towards his girlfriends.
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It would repeatedly land him in trouble. Local journalist Martin
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Naylor recalls the events that led to Philpott being arrested
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in 1978.
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When Mick was a youngster, I think 19 or 20,
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maybe 21, he ended up with a conviction for attempted murder,
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for which he was sentenced to seven years in prison.
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The story with that is that he had a girlfriend
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back in Derby. He was stationed wherever his regiment were.
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She'd had the temerity to sending a Dear John letter
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ending their relationship, so he decided to go AWOL from
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the army, rock up at her house in Derby and
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attack her with a knife. And then when her mother died,
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tried to intervene, he attacked the mother too.
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Despite his seven-year sentence for attempted murder and grievous bodily harm,
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Philpott served just over three years. He was released in 1981.
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From that point onwards, Philpott set about controlling every woman
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he had any contact with and to do so in
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the most outrageous way.
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Those who knew Philpott were surprised to hear just how
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violent his past had been.
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I know Mick can handle himself, so, like, if anyone
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was intimidating towards him, he wasn't afraid to pump his
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chest and stand up to them and so forth, so
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I know he had quite a strong, like, reaction when
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people kind of pushed him.
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The bit that shocked me was.
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I didn't know that he tried to kill his ex-partner.
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After his release from prison, Philpott had a series of
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volatile relationships. In 1986, at the age of 30, he
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got married for the first time and fathered two sons
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and a daughter. He later had two more children with
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a teenage girlfriend and began to have several relationships simultaneously.
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By the time he was 50, Philpott had fathered a
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total of 17 children.
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I think he would have gone for any woman to
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go for him. But, but in his case, he went
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for younger girls, usually girls who were very upset and
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down and depressed, either because they came out of a
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bad relationship or they were mistreated by their parents. Um,
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girls that had no self-esteem, you can pick them out
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of a crowd. You know, they, they think they're, they're ugly.
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They think that they're inadequate. They think that they cannot
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have a boyfriend that everybody hates and that the world
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hates them. They, All they need is a little bit
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of love, is somebody to be there and show them
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that they are beautiful, that they matter, that they are somebody.
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And he knew how to do that. He would approach
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the girls that were like in the lowest they could be,
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and he would be that person.
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In 2000, he met Marie Duffy, a 19-year-old single mother.
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But within a year, he'd met a 16-year-old who became
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another of his conquests.
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She, too, was a single mother. At 16.
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In 2003, Philpott marries Marie Duffy, but keeps his full-time
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live-in mistress. In fact, she is the bridesmaid at the
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marriage to Marie Duffy. It becomes a ménage à trois,
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both bearing his children, living in a council house in Allenton,
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near Derby. They are, well, one could only describe it
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as extraordinary.
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Mick Philpott was a man who was incredibly manipulative, incredibly controlling,
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and had managed to basically convince these two women over
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a course of several years that this was, you know,
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a really good thing, that actually they were lucky to
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have some of his attention.
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In 2006, 50-year-old Mick Philpott was unemployed and living on
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benefits in a council house with his wife, Mireille, his mistress, Lisa,
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and their ever-growing, far from traditional family.
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He had approached us as the Telegraph to say that
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he was living in the house with his wife and
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his then-girlfriend. They had children together, there were lots of
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them there, and he wanted a bigger council house. So
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we thought that by coming to his local newspaper, he
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would get a bigger council house.
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So we ran the story.
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The following day, it was picked up on by all
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the Nationals, especially some of the more right-leaning ones, as
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you'd imagine. One of them, I think one of the tabloids,
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dubbed him Shameless Mick, and the kind of the media
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frenzy rollercoaster went.
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On from there.
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In 2007, Philpott appeared on The Jeremy Kyle Show to
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talk about his large family and his lifestyle. He began
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to draw attention from the general public.
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He becomes quite famous as a benefits scrounger because he
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significantly never has a job and is claiming at one
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point 60,000 a year in benefits as well as being given.
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A house and.
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He parks a caravan, effectively, at the side of the
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semi-detached council house he's living in, in which he alternates.
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He sleeps there one night with the wife, Murray Duffy,
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and the next night with his mistress, as though he's
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some kind of emperor.
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I think that Mick Philpott breathes the oxygen of publicity.
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I think he.
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absolutely regales in being the centre of attention. He loves
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being talked about. And I don't think the nature of
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attention matters very much to him. It doesn't matter if
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it's positive attention or negative attention as long as people
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are talking about him.
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Philpott enjoyed his newfound fame and went on to appear
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in other television programmes.
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He then participated in a programme about benefits culture with
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the MP Anne Widdicombe. And he would have been absolutely
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loving the attention. He was basically having his malevolent ego
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fed from every angle here. But what he really didn't
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care about was the impact that this had on his family.
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His kids were bullied at school because of the attention.
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that they got through him being in the press. His
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partner and his wife were basically labeled as stupid and ignorant,
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but that didn't matter. As long as people were talking
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about him, that's all that he cared about.
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I wish I found it comical. I found it despicable.
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There is nothing about it that I find admirable. Philpott
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saw himself as some kind of grand figure, effectively bragging
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about his success with women, his success scrounging on the benefits.
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Mick Philpott is somebody who has to be in control.
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He has always got to be the one making the decisions,
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and other people basically have to pander to his every whim.
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Philpott's wife and mistress both worked as part-time cleaners.
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But far from being a source of their own income
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and a source of independence for them, he would basically
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take all of their wages. He would be the one
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who drove them to work, dropped them off and picked
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them up. He wanted to be fully in control of
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these women's lives. They didn't even have their own house keys.
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In 2012, 56-year-old Mick Philpott was living with his wife,
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his mistress and their 11 children in a council house
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in Derbyshire. By now, Philpott was known nationally as a
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benefit scrounger. But little was known about his controlling behaviour,
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his volatile temper... and his obsession with sex that included
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regular threesomes with his wife, Mireille, and a friend, Paul Mosley.
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There were like 11 kids in the house, a small house,
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two sexual partners, and he used to bring a friend
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for sex parties and stuff. It's a horrible environment with
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the kids in the house and stuff, and you're doing
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all this. So it doesn't take an expert to realize, okay,
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this is not a good situation.
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And these sexual exploits of Mick and Miread didn't stop
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at home.
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There was an incident where they went out dogging in
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Alastair Park. Now, people who live in Derby and know
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Derby know that Alastair is a relatively affluent area, and
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to hear that people have been going there to watch
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other people having sex in cars sort of comes across
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as quite a shock.
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And so it was seedy.
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In February 2012, Philpott's mistress, Lisa, decided she'd had enough
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of life in the dysfunctional household. She moved out with
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her five children and demanded custody.
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A lot of people won't have that courage, She just decided, look,
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enough is enough. She did the right thing. She didn't
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go up to him and say, I'm leaving you, because
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I think if she tried doing that, he would overpower her,
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because he was a violent person, and say, no, you're
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not leaving, or maybe lock her in. He would have
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done something. But she did the right thing. She walked
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away first and then sent him a message and said,
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I'm gone, you know, and then he couldn't find her anymore.
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This was a point at which Lisa had decided to
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take control, to take her children and to go to
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a women's refuge. And the key thing here is that
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Mick hadn't decided that that was okay. He was the
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one that decided when relationships were over. He was the
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one that decided what happened on a daily basis. So
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the fact that Lisa had betrayed him by taking that
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power away from him, it was only going to result
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in something really alarming in return.
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Lisa moving out left financial implications for Philpott. Not only
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did he lose her income as a cleaner, but also
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the benefits he received for their children. The custody hearing
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was set for May 11th. Philpott concocted a plan to
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ensure that children would be returned to Victory Road.
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Out of the vanity and arrogance of the man, together
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with his wife, my aide, and Paul Mosley, the kind
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00:14:26.389 --> 00:14:31.110
of live-in, sometime lover, they hatch a scheme to set
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fire to the house in Victory Road in an effort
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to provoke the council to resign. give him a bigger house,
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00:14:38.740 --> 00:14:43.429
but also to blame his mistress. She will not get
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00:14:43.470 --> 00:14:48.950
the custody of the children. It is an extraordinary, bizarre plan.
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I think Mairead was very much under Mick Philpott's control
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at this point in time. I think he would have
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00:14:55.259 --> 00:14:58.980
quite easily have talked her around into actually being a
250
00:14:59.019 --> 00:14:59.700
part of this.
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00:15:00.340 --> 00:15:03.159
It was a badly devised plan. To me, what convinced
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00:15:03.179 --> 00:15:06.679
him is his own stupidity. He was self-absorbed. He thought
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00:15:06.740 --> 00:15:09.659
that he was the king. You know, he got all
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00:15:09.679 --> 00:15:12.120
the girls he wanted, and he could control them and everything.
255
00:15:12.360 --> 00:15:15.980
And maybe Philpott thought that he was that intelligent, that
256
00:15:16.019 --> 00:15:18.639
it was that easy to devise a plan that he
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00:15:18.700 --> 00:15:22.240
could get back on the girl. So he probably sat down,
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00:15:22.919 --> 00:15:24.679
wrote down the plan very quickly. This is what we're
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00:15:24.700 --> 00:15:25.700
going to do, right?
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00:15:26.200 --> 00:15:26.840
Very easy.
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00:15:27.850 --> 00:15:31.710
In the early hours of Friday, May the 11th, 2012,
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00:15:31.710 --> 00:15:35.759
the same day as the scheduled custody hearing, Philpott, aided
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00:15:35.840 --> 00:15:39.740
by his wife, Mireille, and their friend, Paul Mosley, poured
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00:15:39.820 --> 00:15:43.279
petrol through the letterbox and set the family home alight.
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00:15:44.200 --> 00:15:47.159
Six of Philpott's children were sleeping upstairs.
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00:15:48.049 --> 00:15:51.149
The fire that he set, that they have set between them,
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00:15:51.710 --> 00:15:55.250
takes hold at a pace far greater than they could
268
00:15:55.330 --> 00:15:59.610
possibly have conceived. and the house is literally filled with
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00:15:59.659 --> 00:16:04.789
smoke in a matter of instants. In his typically vainglorious way,
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00:16:05.169 --> 00:16:11.830
Philpott makes a particularly appalling 999 call, saying, my children
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00:16:11.889 --> 00:16:12.610
are inside.
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00:16:13.789 --> 00:16:18.269
They was on the phone to the emergency services, I believe,
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00:16:18.289 --> 00:16:21.769
and they was saying, like, my house is on fire,
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00:16:21.789 --> 00:16:24.629
and it was like, my baby, my baby, and obviously
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00:16:24.789 --> 00:16:29.139
they told, The emergency service, my neighbours here, it was very, like,
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00:16:29.179 --> 00:16:32.659
misty because everything's just happening so fast. I attempted to
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00:16:32.679 --> 00:16:35.480
go into the house. I got as far as the kitchen,
278
00:16:35.539 --> 00:16:38.230
couldn't go any further. The smoke was just too thick.
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00:16:38.250 --> 00:16:40.750
It was choking, black. I couldn't see anything, so I
280
00:16:40.759 --> 00:16:43.169
had to come back out. There was ladders at the
281
00:16:43.230 --> 00:16:46.129
side going up to a window. I tried climbing up
282
00:16:46.149 --> 00:16:48.389
to there and there was a ratchet in the window
283
00:16:48.450 --> 00:16:51.950
where Mick's been trying to smash in, I think, and
284
00:16:51.990 --> 00:16:54.460
there was smoke coming from that window. I then came
285
00:16:54.480 --> 00:16:57.019
back down the ladders and I climbed up onto a
286
00:16:57.080 --> 00:17:00.840
wooden frame, what he's been building onto his conservatory.
287
00:17:01.759 --> 00:17:04.779
The damage to the house is drastic and there is
288
00:17:04.819 --> 00:17:09.640
no way that those poor six children could possibly have escaped.
289
00:17:10.140 --> 00:17:12.789
Smoke inhalation alone would have been deadly.
290
00:17:13.369 --> 00:17:14.910
I climbed up to the window to see if any
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00:17:15.009 --> 00:17:17.730
windows were open. None of them were open. Then I
292
00:17:17.970 --> 00:17:20.170
put one of the windows through with a wrench from
293
00:17:20.190 --> 00:17:22.690
the other window. I chucked out the window and it
294
00:17:22.710 --> 00:17:25.750
smashed straight through. I then continued putting the window through
295
00:17:25.789 --> 00:17:29.130
with the pickaxe on the roof, smashing all the window up.
296
00:17:29.769 --> 00:17:32.490
I was about to climb into the property. Again, couldn't
297
00:17:32.509 --> 00:17:35.890
see nothing, couldn't hear nothing, and hear no screams.
298
00:17:36.789 --> 00:17:40.619
When the fire service arrived, the desperate attempts to save
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00:17:40.660 --> 00:17:44.420
the children continued. The local press soon got wind of
300
00:17:44.460 --> 00:17:47.099
the unfolding drama on Victory Road.
301
00:17:47.680 --> 00:17:49.660
I was on the early shift on the morning of
302
00:17:49.700 --> 00:17:51.440
the fire, and I could hear that the news desk
303
00:17:51.460 --> 00:17:54.440
phone was ringing, so... I made a bit of a
304
00:17:54.480 --> 00:17:57.009
dash for it. I grabbed the phone and it was
305
00:17:57.109 --> 00:18:00.089
the on-duty police press officer. And she said to me,
306
00:18:00.890 --> 00:18:03.569
we're just letting the local media know early that there's
307
00:18:03.589 --> 00:18:06.869
been a really big house fire in Allentown and five
308
00:18:06.910 --> 00:18:11.599
kids are dead. Within about five or ten minutes of
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00:18:11.619 --> 00:18:14.000
knowing that it was in Victory Road, I phoned the
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00:18:14.039 --> 00:18:16.680
local news agent who I'd known because I'd done previous
311
00:18:16.700 --> 00:18:19.359
stories with him. He answered the phone and I said,
312
00:18:19.900 --> 00:18:23.700
Joe Guritz-Martin from The Telegraph. and he said, it's Mick Philpott,
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00:18:23.779 --> 00:18:24.720
it's Mick Philpott's house.
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00:18:25.259 --> 00:18:27.380
And I didn't even have to ask him what it
315
00:18:27.420 --> 00:18:30.579
was about. He knew, and he blurted that out straight away.
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00:18:31.559 --> 00:18:34.890
Shocked neighbors began to spill out onto the street as
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00:18:34.950 --> 00:18:37.609
the full horror of the tragedy became apparent.
318
00:18:38.289 --> 00:18:40.349
I think nearly the whole street was out in the front.
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00:18:41.529 --> 00:18:44.910
The fire brigade were in the house, flashing lights everywhere.
320
00:18:44.930 --> 00:18:48.660
I pushed to the front of the house, and I
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00:18:48.680 --> 00:18:54.579
could see the firefighters bring in the children out, some
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00:18:54.640 --> 00:18:57.119
in blankets. I think they used the blankets to try
323
00:18:57.140 --> 00:18:57.960
and protect some of it.
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00:18:57.960 --> 00:19:01.009
A bit more.
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00:19:04.450 --> 00:19:08.250
And the ambulance were trying to resuscitate some of them.
326
00:19:12.799 --> 00:19:16.779
I was just hoping that the kids would survive and recover.
327
00:19:18.359 --> 00:19:21.359
I just didn't really know what to think at the time.
328
00:19:22.910 --> 00:19:25.589
Didn't know what had happened. Didn't know what caused the fire.
329
00:19:25.609 --> 00:19:27.009
I just didn't know anything.
330
00:19:28.069 --> 00:19:33.880
Tragically, five of Philpott's children died at the scene, 10-year-old Jade,
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00:19:33.900 --> 00:19:39.259
9-year-old John, 8-year-old Jack, 6-year-old Jesse, and Jayden, who was
332
00:19:39.299 --> 00:19:44.289
just 5 years old. Their older brother, 13-year-old Duane, was
333
00:19:44.369 --> 00:19:47.950
rushed to hospital in a critical condition but would later
334
00:19:47.970 --> 00:19:49.529
succumb to his injuries.
335
00:19:52.039 --> 00:19:54.779
It almost defies self-deception.
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00:19:55.240 --> 00:19:57.500
It is disgraceful.
337
00:19:58.579 --> 00:20:01.150
But at the outset, the police believe that this is
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00:20:01.210 --> 00:20:06.109
something that has genuinely a tragedy. Six children, no adults
339
00:20:06.890 --> 00:20:08.869
in the house. You might ask, why weren't there any
340
00:20:08.910 --> 00:20:09.690
adults in the house?
341
00:20:10.619 --> 00:20:14.319
Forensic experts arrived at the scene and began to look
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00:20:14.339 --> 00:20:17.920
for clues to determine the source of the fire. Daniel
343
00:20:17.960 --> 00:20:19.640
Matthews was part of the team.
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00:20:20.319 --> 00:20:24.369
Mostly the house was pretty much undamaged. The roof was intact,
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00:20:24.390 --> 00:20:28.230
the walls were intact. The front door was noticeably more
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00:20:28.289 --> 00:20:32.049
damaged than anywhere else. And also the window on the landing,
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00:20:32.069 --> 00:20:34.660
there's a small window on the landing upstairs that had
348
00:20:34.700 --> 00:20:37.890
been damaged by the fire and had dropped out. But
349
00:20:37.930 --> 00:20:39.619
apart from that, the only way you could really tell
350
00:20:39.630 --> 00:20:41.380
there was a fire at the house was by small
351
00:20:41.410 --> 00:20:43.720
signs of some soot coming out from the vents at
352
00:20:43.740 --> 00:20:46.299
the top of some of the double-glazed windows. The fire
353
00:20:46.339 --> 00:20:48.680
had started in the entrance hallway behind the front door.
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00:20:49.660 --> 00:20:51.660
And from there, it had spread a little bit into
355
00:20:51.680 --> 00:20:54.119
the living room, but mostly it had spread up the stairs.
356
00:20:54.660 --> 00:20:56.599
The window at the very top of the stairs was
357
00:20:56.740 --> 00:20:58.720
open a little bit, and that had been breached by
358
00:20:58.759 --> 00:21:03.569
the fire. Now, obviously, fire tends to go up and out, so... Effectively,
359
00:21:03.609 --> 00:21:05.670
the stairwell from a fire in there would act almost
360
00:21:05.710 --> 00:21:08.289
like a chimney. The fire and the hot gases and
361
00:21:08.309 --> 00:21:10.009
the fumes would mostly go upstairs.
362
00:21:10.750 --> 00:21:14.910
In cooperation with the fire investigators, the forensic team needed
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00:21:14.950 --> 00:21:17.750
to find out if the blaze was accidental or if
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00:21:17.789 --> 00:21:19.690
someone had started it on purpose.
365
00:21:20.269 --> 00:21:22.269
We had an arson dog handler with us that day.
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00:21:22.890 --> 00:21:25.690
That dog is trained to indicate on various different ignitable
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00:21:25.710 --> 00:21:28.619
liquids such as petrol, diesel, white spirits and the things
368
00:21:28.630 --> 00:21:33.160
that we commonly see in arsons. and the dog clearly
369
00:21:33.180 --> 00:21:37.579
indicated that he thought something was present. So we would
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00:21:37.619 --> 00:21:39.339
take a sample from that area, and then it would
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00:21:39.359 --> 00:21:42.000
be sent for analysis, and the analysis determined that petrol
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00:21:42.759 --> 00:21:45.690
was there. When I completed my scene examination, I was
373
00:21:45.769 --> 00:21:47.809
able to say that the fire had been started deliberately.
374
00:21:50.059 --> 00:21:54.940
As the sun rose on the morning of Friday, May 11th, 2012,
375
00:21:54.940 --> 00:21:57.940
the true horror of the house fire on Victory Road
376
00:21:58.039 --> 00:22:03.529
in Derby became apparent. Investigations had revealed that the blaze
377
00:22:03.569 --> 00:22:09.029
which had killed six children had been started deliberately. Bereaved father,
378
00:22:09.130 --> 00:22:13.450
Mick Philpot, had seemingly made desperate attempts to save them.
379
00:22:14.250 --> 00:22:18.569
But in reality, he had orchestrated the whole thing to
380
00:22:18.609 --> 00:22:21.829
try and win custody of five of his other children
381
00:22:22.150 --> 00:22:23.369
from his former mistress.
382
00:22:24.990 --> 00:22:27.589
I think Philpott thought that nobody would ever leave him
383
00:22:27.630 --> 00:22:29.559
because he was so amazing. So I think it was
384
00:22:29.579 --> 00:22:34.759
a combination of everything. When somebody leaves you, there's another
385
00:22:34.779 --> 00:22:36.960
thing that happens with the human brain. It's like jealousy
386
00:22:37.259 --> 00:22:43.980
automatically happens, right? For one reason, we are all... And
387
00:22:44.240 --> 00:22:46.619
in Philpott's case even more, because he was so self-absorbed,
388
00:22:47.039 --> 00:22:49.039
you think you are the best thing on earth.
389
00:22:49.619 --> 00:22:54.089
Mick Philpott's plan was essentially to exact revenge on Lisa.
390
00:22:54.480 --> 00:22:57.630
He'd moved from trying to control her by keeping her
391
00:22:57.789 --> 00:23:00.849
in a relationship with him to trying to destroy her
392
00:23:00.970 --> 00:23:03.990
for leaving it. He was vile towards her. He made
393
00:23:04.109 --> 00:23:08.299
threats towards her through other people. She was incredibly frightened.
394
00:23:08.700 --> 00:23:11.490
And what he was trying to do was essentially create
395
00:23:11.529 --> 00:23:14.509
a story, create a set of events that he could
396
00:23:14.569 --> 00:23:15.470
blame her for.
397
00:23:15.769 --> 00:23:17.869
I think what convinced him that this thing would work
398
00:23:17.930 --> 00:23:22.230
was himself, you know, his stupidity and his self-absorption. He thought,
399
00:23:22.759 --> 00:23:25.319
I'm too good, this plan is infallible.
400
00:23:26.680 --> 00:23:30.220
On Saturday, the 12th of May, the day after the fire,
401
00:23:30.619 --> 00:23:35.789
Philpott's ex-mistress Lisa and her brother-in-law were arrested on suspicion
402
00:23:35.829 --> 00:23:39.579
of starting the blaze. it seemed that Philpott's plan to
403
00:23:39.660 --> 00:23:43.339
frame her was working out, but they were soon released
404
00:23:43.579 --> 00:23:44.500
without charge.
405
00:23:46.059 --> 00:23:47.460
Police were treating the.
406
00:23:47.369 --> 00:23:51.710
Deliberate fire as a murder investigation after it was confirmed
407
00:23:51.970 --> 00:23:54.950
that petrol had been found inside the letterbox.
408
00:23:55.910 --> 00:23:58.589
The police start to talk to the neighbors, who point
409
00:23:58.690 --> 00:24:01.970
out that Philpott is this conceited pig of a man,
410
00:24:02.509 --> 00:24:07.319
and they begin to put together what actually happened. They
411
00:24:07.359 --> 00:24:11.339
find evidence of a petrol can. They find a glove.
412
00:24:12.480 --> 00:24:16.200
Detectives began to grow suspicious of the Philpotts and their
413
00:24:16.259 --> 00:24:22.630
possible motives. On Wednesday 16th May 2012, Mick Philpott held
414
00:24:22.789 --> 00:24:27.130
an emotional press conference, unaware that he was the police's
415
00:24:27.529 --> 00:24:28.950
number one suspect.
416
00:24:29.750 --> 00:24:33.930
Didn't Philpott know that that the police has experts on
417
00:24:34.150 --> 00:24:36.690
reading people. You know, they have people who are trained
418
00:24:36.730 --> 00:24:41.710
for years on reading body language, facial expressions, eye movement,
419
00:24:42.009 --> 00:24:44.190
voice intonation, you know, everything.
420
00:24:45.009 --> 00:24:48.549
Philpott appeared to be distraught when he faced the cameras
421
00:24:48.589 --> 00:24:52.650
with a visibly grief-stricken Mirade. He started to thank people
422
00:24:52.930 --> 00:24:55.170
who'd tried to help on the night of the fire.
423
00:24:56.079 --> 00:24:59.420
And, of course, the four firemen, the police, the ambulances,
424
00:24:59.440 --> 00:25:05.289
the doctors, the nurses... Literally everybody who tried to help
425
00:25:06.009 --> 00:25:07.109
save our children, they couldn't.
426
00:25:09.690 --> 00:25:14.190
One intrigued viewer was body language expert Robert Phipps.
427
00:25:14.759 --> 00:25:18.240
Mick Philpott is very controlled throughout the whole interview, making
428
00:25:18.299 --> 00:25:21.660
a point of thanking everybody else, but not really mentioning
429
00:25:21.700 --> 00:25:24.400
the children that have just died. The signals that he
430
00:25:24.460 --> 00:25:27.940
gives off are not in the normal range of somebody
431
00:25:27.980 --> 00:25:32.440
expressing grief, anxiety, sadness. which he should do having just
432
00:25:32.519 --> 00:25:36.180
lost his children. Somebody normally expressing grief, you would see
433
00:25:36.240 --> 00:25:40.460
contorting of the face, not just one consistent look. And
434
00:25:40.500 --> 00:25:42.920
this is what you have with Mick, is one consistent
435
00:25:42.980 --> 00:25:45.769
look throughout the whole thing. His face is not going
436
00:25:45.809 --> 00:25:49.069
through the turmoil as compared to Mairead, who you see
437
00:25:49.130 --> 00:25:52.269
her eyebrows are moving, her forehead has got different wrinkles
438
00:25:52.329 --> 00:25:55.609
in it. Her face is just contorted with pain. We
439
00:25:55.650 --> 00:25:57.470
don't see any of that from Mick.
440
00:25:58.230 --> 00:26:04.849
If ever evidence were needed of Philpott's capacity for being disingenuous,
441
00:26:05.690 --> 00:26:09.200
for convincing the world, and I suspect himself into the bargain,
442
00:26:09.779 --> 00:26:13.079
that he alone was right. It was in the classic
443
00:26:13.119 --> 00:26:18.039
case of his crocodile tears during the televised press conference.
444
00:26:19.339 --> 00:26:26.160
Those tears were yet further evidence of his capacity for self-delusion,
445
00:26:26.619 --> 00:26:29.160
which is one of the hallmarks of his life, along
446
00:26:29.200 --> 00:26:31.970
with the capacity to believe that he alone can dictate
447
00:26:32.009 --> 00:26:32.869
what happens to the world.
448
00:26:33.769 --> 00:26:37.650
Right from the beginning, Mick Philpott's body language is inconsistent
449
00:26:37.690 --> 00:26:40.829
with somebody showing grief. His blinking rate is far, far
450
00:26:40.869 --> 00:26:44.170
too high. The normal range is around about 20, 25
451
00:26:44.170 --> 00:26:46.769
blinks per minute. We counted in this as much as
452
00:26:46.769 --> 00:26:50.970
80 to 90 blinks a minute. This is showing his nervousness.
453
00:26:51.890 --> 00:26:55.269
Mick is dabbing away with his tissue here to imaginary tears.
454
00:26:55.509 --> 00:26:59.420
They're not there, therefore the tissue itself doesn't get wet,
455
00:26:59.559 --> 00:27:02.099
it doesn't crumple. If you look at that in comparison
456
00:27:02.140 --> 00:27:05.880
to Mairead's tissue, it's all crumpled because she is actually
457
00:27:05.980 --> 00:27:09.559
expressing tears, real genuine tears. If you look at the
458
00:27:09.640 --> 00:27:12.579
lines on their forehead, these are just straight lines.
459
00:27:12.599 --> 00:27:13.920
There's no expression.
460
00:27:13.940 --> 00:27:15.809
These are his normal everyday lines.
461
00:27:16.329 --> 00:27:19.329
If you look at Mairead's face, she's raised her eyebrows.
462
00:27:19.529 --> 00:27:21.970
They've come in, so she's got a furrowed brow and
463
00:27:22.009 --> 00:27:24.630
she's pulling these eyebrows in, which shows the pain that
464
00:27:24.670 --> 00:27:29.130
she's going through. You can also see the way her mouth,
465
00:27:29.690 --> 00:27:33.849
is contorted and changing with each expression of different emotions.
466
00:27:34.190 --> 00:27:37.930
Mick is consistent all the way through. One thing that
467
00:27:37.970 --> 00:27:41.230
they don't do throughout the entire press conference is appeal
468
00:27:41.289 --> 00:27:43.359
for help. Who set this fire?
469
00:27:43.730 --> 00:27:44.980
Who killed these children?
470
00:27:46.640 --> 00:27:46.880
Why?
471
00:27:47.339 --> 00:27:48.819
Because he knows he did it.
472
00:27:49.819 --> 00:27:52.400
It wasn't just the police who were suspicious.
473
00:27:52.849 --> 00:27:56.670
Philpott's performance had baffled the onlooking press too.
474
00:27:57.289 --> 00:27:59.589
At the end of it, I got in the car
475
00:27:59.609 --> 00:28:01.789
to drive back to the office and I thought, that's
476
00:28:01.809 --> 00:28:04.650
not right. Something's not right about that. He's not once
477
00:28:04.750 --> 00:28:08.450
mentioned the children. He's not mentioned them by name. He's
478
00:28:08.490 --> 00:28:11.730
not looked into any cameras and said, please will someone
479
00:28:12.210 --> 00:28:15.319
out there help me find out who's done this. It's
480
00:28:15.400 --> 00:28:18.490
a suspicious fire in his own home. and not once
481
00:28:18.529 --> 00:28:20.890
has he made an appeal to the public, to anyone
482
00:28:20.930 --> 00:28:24.250
who's watching, you know, please, anyone with information, come forward.
483
00:28:24.609 --> 00:28:25.049
Not once.
484
00:28:25.869 --> 00:28:27.829
So then I got back to the office, and as
485
00:28:27.869 --> 00:28:30.299
I walked in, I could see everyone was still stood
486
00:28:30.339 --> 00:28:34.160
around the TV, and we all looked at each other,
487
00:28:34.599 --> 00:28:37.980
and that was the moment that we all knew, you know,
488
00:28:38.200 --> 00:28:39.319
something's wrong here.
489
00:28:39.859 --> 00:28:40.859
This is a game-changer.
490
00:28:42.319 --> 00:28:46.950
Disingenuous would be a polite way of describing it, It
491
00:28:46.970 --> 00:28:51.569
is typical of a man who believes he alone rules
492
00:28:51.650 --> 00:28:55.150
the world. He is an emperor of everything he surveys.
493
00:28:56.079 --> 00:28:58.640
He is a man whose vanity knows no bounds, a
494
00:28:58.700 --> 00:29:01.680
man for whom he is the center of the universe,
495
00:29:02.839 --> 00:29:06.900
which in the end convinced the police that he wasn't
496
00:29:06.980 --> 00:29:10.880
telling the truth, that he seemed so capable of this
497
00:29:11.019 --> 00:29:14.519
kind of sleight of hand. He may have convinced himself,
498
00:29:14.619 --> 00:29:16.559
but he didn't convince many other people I.
499
00:29:16.539 --> 00:29:19.740
Think he's such a narcissist, he's so arrogant and he
500
00:29:20.059 --> 00:29:23.529
thinks he's gotten away with it, that he thinks he's invincible.
501
00:29:23.549 --> 00:29:27.190
He thinks that his act, as he's fooled many women
502
00:29:27.369 --> 00:29:29.470
over the years, is going to fool the rest of us,
503
00:29:29.609 --> 00:29:30.509
and it certainly didn't.
504
00:29:31.470 --> 00:29:34.809
The residents of Victory Road who'd rallied round the family
505
00:29:35.230 --> 00:29:37.829
also started to wonder what was going on.
506
00:29:37.839 --> 00:29:44.759
Their behaviour was strange. He did ask me if he
507
00:29:44.819 --> 00:29:47.079
thought the police, he said he thought the police.
508
00:29:46.779 --> 00:29:48.220
Was blaming him.
509
00:29:48.240 --> 00:29:51.809
He did say that to me. They think he did
510
00:29:51.910 --> 00:29:52.910
it and stuff like that.
511
00:29:52.910 --> 00:29:58.680
88 officers working on the case had taken over 5,000
512
00:29:58.680 --> 00:30:02.740
statements from local residents, some of which suggested that the
513
00:30:02.799 --> 00:30:05.980
police themselves had made more of an effort to save
514
00:30:06.019 --> 00:30:10.960
the six children than the Philpotts. On May 29th, 2012,
515
00:30:10.960 --> 00:30:15.670
18 days after the fatal blaze, Mick Philpott and his
516
00:30:15.730 --> 00:30:19.109
wife Mireille were arrested on suspicion of murder.
517
00:30:21.009 --> 00:30:25.680
And again, that was another strange scenario because I was
518
00:30:25.700 --> 00:30:29.160
sat at my desk and a press release pings into
519
00:30:29.200 --> 00:30:33.079
my inbox that says a 56-year-old man and a 31-year-old
520
00:30:33.140 --> 00:30:35.980
woman have been arrested on suspicion of murder in connection
521
00:30:36.009 --> 00:30:39.930
with the Victory Road fire. And immediately I stood up
522
00:30:40.029 --> 00:30:44.309
and I shouted over to News Desk that the Phil
523
00:30:44.329 --> 00:30:47.710
Potts had been arrested on.
524
00:30:46.430 --> 00:30:47.230
Suspicion of murder.
525
00:30:47.990 --> 00:30:48.099
And.
526
00:30:49.099 --> 00:30:50.759
That was the second time in two weeks that we
527
00:30:50.819 --> 00:30:52.980
ran a special edition of the newspaper and that had
528
00:30:53.019 --> 00:30:55.880
never happened before. Although the police wouldn't confirm on the
529
00:30:55.920 --> 00:30:58.339
record that this is who it was, we got confirmation
530
00:30:58.420 --> 00:31:00.480
via other sources that it, you know, if.
531
00:31:00.440 --> 00:31:02.619
We said it's the Phil Potts that's been arrested, would
532
00:31:02.660 --> 00:31:03.160
we be wrong?
533
00:31:03.740 --> 00:31:03.940
No.
534
00:31:04.799 --> 00:31:08.740
On the 22nd of June, funeral services for 13-year-old Duane,
535
00:31:08.759 --> 00:31:11.099
10-year-old Jade, 9-year-old John, 8-year-old Jack.
536
00:31:14.930 --> 00:31:19.410
6-year-old Jesse and 5-year-old Jayden were held at St. Mary's
537
00:31:19.490 --> 00:31:26.319
Catholic Church in Derby. In the days after the deadly fire,
538
00:31:26.680 --> 00:31:30.960
the local community had raised more than 15,000 pounds to
539
00:31:31.019 --> 00:31:35.359
pay for the funerals. Mick and Mireille Philpott were not
540
00:31:35.440 --> 00:31:36.460
allowed to attend.
541
00:31:37.680 --> 00:31:40.920
It's very close-knit, Allentown. Derby as a city is a
542
00:31:41.109 --> 00:31:46.009
small city, but it's a very proud city. and Allenton
543
00:31:46.369 --> 00:31:48.690
and some of the neighbouring areas to it and some
544
00:31:48.710 --> 00:31:52.450
of the, I hasten to use the word poorer areas,
545
00:31:52.769 --> 00:31:57.470
but the less affluent areas, it's very close-knit, really close-knit.
546
00:31:57.690 --> 00:32:00.680
I mean, the outpouring of emotion from the community was huge.
547
00:32:02.400 --> 00:32:07.339
On 5th November, a further arrest was made. Forensic evidence
548
00:32:07.400 --> 00:32:10.200
had found petrol on the clothing of not just Mick
549
00:32:10.259 --> 00:32:14.640
and Mireille Philpott, but also their friend Paul Mosley. All
550
00:32:14.740 --> 00:32:18.720
three were originally charged with murder, but in December, these
551
00:32:18.819 --> 00:32:23.900
charges were downgraded to manslaughter. The police accepted that although
552
00:32:23.940 --> 00:32:27.410
they'd started the blaze, they had not intended.
553
00:32:26.940 --> 00:32:28.089
To kill the children.
554
00:32:28.970 --> 00:32:33.509
It beggars belief to me that this charge is downgraded
555
00:32:33.849 --> 00:32:41.069
to manslaughter because, according to the statements at the time, Philpott,
556
00:32:41.390 --> 00:32:45.369
his wife, and Mosley didn't mean to kill the children.
557
00:32:46.349 --> 00:32:49.769
It's a tiny semi-detached house, and you've got six small children,
558
00:32:49.930 --> 00:32:52.710
and you've set fire to it. How can you not
559
00:32:52.750 --> 00:32:57.059
expect at least one of those children to die? It
560
00:32:57.099 --> 00:32:58.119
defies belief to me.
561
00:32:59.960 --> 00:33:04.200
At a hearing on December 17th, all three pleaded not
562
00:33:04.279 --> 00:33:08.190
guilty to manslaughter, meaning a trial would have to take place.
563
00:33:09.250 --> 00:33:13.289
On the 12th of February 2013 at Nottingham Crown Court,
564
00:33:13.750 --> 00:33:17.480
prosecutors set out to prove that Mick Philpott had made
565
00:33:17.660 --> 00:33:22.279
a plan that went horribly wrong. Local reporter Martin Naylor
566
00:33:22.559 --> 00:33:23.539
was in the courtroom.
567
00:33:24.259 --> 00:33:26.519
I remember Mick when he gave evidence talking about hearing
568
00:33:26.559 --> 00:33:30.220
a whooshing noise. When you light petrol, you're not lighting
569
00:33:30.509 --> 00:33:32.589
the fluid, you're lighting the fumes that's come off it.
570
00:33:33.109 --> 00:33:34.869
And in the time that it's taken for someone to
571
00:33:34.910 --> 00:33:38.650
put the petrol through the letterbox and then for someone...
572
00:33:38.779 --> 00:33:42.240
probably him, to light it, you know, this vapour was all.
573
00:33:42.180 --> 00:33:43.839
Up in the air. There was a huge whoosh.
574
00:33:44.160 --> 00:33:47.160
What he was describing was the whoosh of the fire
575
00:33:47.309 --> 00:33:50.589
going flying up the stairs. Now, those stairs had also
576
00:33:50.670 --> 00:33:54.369
been recently painted with, I think, yacht varnish or yacht paint,
577
00:33:54.650 --> 00:33:58.170
which is highly flammable. So the children, although there were
578
00:33:58.269 --> 00:34:01.880
working smoke alarms in there, they had no chance. They
579
00:34:02.019 --> 00:34:06.200
literally had no chance. And obviously the cause of death
580
00:34:06.240 --> 00:34:08.119
was the effects of smoke inhalation.
581
00:34:08.929 --> 00:34:12.550
Forensic expert Daniel Matthews was called to give evidence.
582
00:34:13.389 --> 00:34:15.860
I did some DNA work on the petrol cans that
583
00:34:15.880 --> 00:34:18.079
were found and I did some DNA work on some
584
00:34:18.139 --> 00:34:20.440
items of clothing that were found in the house to
585
00:34:20.480 --> 00:34:22.400
determine whether or not they could have been worn by
586
00:34:22.599 --> 00:34:25.900
occupants of the house. And I did some microscopic burn
587
00:34:25.920 --> 00:34:29.480
damage examination which would have potentially indicated whether a wearer
588
00:34:29.519 --> 00:34:31.840
of some items of clothing could have been close to
589
00:34:32.199 --> 00:34:33.780
an ignitable liquid when it was ignited.
590
00:34:35.389 --> 00:34:38.789
But because of the ferocity of the fire, no evidence
591
00:34:38.849 --> 00:34:43.400
remained inside the house. However, traces of petrol had been
592
00:34:43.480 --> 00:34:47.519
found on all three of the defendants' clothes. In one
593
00:34:47.559 --> 00:34:50.940
of the trial's key moments, Mick Philpott was asked to
594
00:34:50.980 --> 00:34:54.010
give his version of the events from the night that
595
00:34:54.110 --> 00:34:57.550
led to the tragic death of six of his own children.
596
00:34:58.309 --> 00:35:00.690
When Mick took the stand, he was the showman that
597
00:35:00.730 --> 00:35:04.880
he always was. Again, he was crying or supposedly crying
598
00:35:04.920 --> 00:35:08.619
in the dark. But the prosecution saw through all that.
599
00:35:09.860 --> 00:35:12.699
I don't think there was one single thing that nailed him.
600
00:35:13.059 --> 00:35:15.340
I think it was just the case just built up
601
00:35:15.380 --> 00:35:16.980
and built up and built up and was so strong,
602
00:35:17.019 --> 00:35:19.440
it was almost like piling bricks on top of him,
603
00:35:19.480 --> 00:35:22.800
just waiting for him to collapse. And I think his
604
00:35:22.860 --> 00:35:26.280
collapse came in his cross-examination because his denials were just
605
00:35:26.389 --> 00:35:27.280
absolutely ripped apart.
606
00:35:28.070 --> 00:35:30.840
During the trial, what we've got to remember is that
607
00:35:30.880 --> 00:35:35.039
this is essentially another stage on which Mick Philpott performs.
608
00:35:35.460 --> 00:35:39.099
He is playing to an audience. There are several outbursts
609
00:35:39.219 --> 00:35:43.889
of anger. And when his relatives shout at him in court,
610
00:35:44.389 --> 00:35:46.550
he shouts back at them and he sticks his middle
611
00:35:46.590 --> 00:35:51.050
finger up to them. So he really is incredibly defiant.
612
00:35:51.110 --> 00:35:55.550
He's incredibly showman-like in his personality. He wants to be
613
00:35:55.739 --> 00:35:58.449
the centre of attention. He knows that the media circus
614
00:35:58.489 --> 00:36:00.750
is still going on and he wants to be the ringleader.
615
00:36:01.909 --> 00:36:07.579
On April 2nd, 2013, after an emotionally exhausting eight-week trial,
616
00:36:07.980 --> 00:36:11.280
the jury found the trio guilty of manslaughter.
617
00:36:11.980 --> 00:36:14.860
I recall one of Mairead's sisters standing up in the
618
00:36:14.900 --> 00:36:17.679
public gallery and shouting to her, I knew on day
619
00:36:17.780 --> 00:36:20.409
one you'd done this. I knew you'd done this before
620
00:36:20.449 --> 00:36:24.199
storming out. It was the first time that we'd effectively
621
00:36:24.260 --> 00:36:27.449
live blogged from court. We'd been given permission by the judge,
622
00:36:27.989 --> 00:36:31.070
and my fingers were trembling as I was, you know,
623
00:36:31.150 --> 00:36:33.650
typing things out to send back to the office for
624
00:36:33.670 --> 00:36:37.469
them to, on the website straightaway, guilty verdict, guilty verdict.
625
00:36:38.489 --> 00:36:44.760
On April 4th, 2013, during sentencing, Judge Mrs Justice Thirlwall
626
00:36:44.820 --> 00:36:48.059
told the trio,'' All three of you are responsible for
627
00:36:48.079 --> 00:36:50.099
the deliberate setting of that fire.
628
00:36:50.809 --> 00:36:53.429
All three of you are responsible for those deaths.
629
00:36:54.130 --> 00:36:58.679
Mireille Philpott and Paul Mosley were each sentenced to 17 years.
630
00:36:58.699 --> 00:37:06.179
56-year-old Mick Philpott was sentenced to life. He was immediately
631
00:37:06.260 --> 00:37:10.960
sent to Wakefield Prison in West Yorkshire. Mrs Justice Thirlwall
632
00:37:11.000 --> 00:37:15.719
described him as a disturbingly dangerous man and as the
633
00:37:15.840 --> 00:37:18.610
driving force behind the wicked plan.
634
00:37:19.489 --> 00:37:21.730
In my opinion, Philpott should have been given a whole
635
00:37:21.769 --> 00:37:24.230
life term, and I do not approve of whole life terms,
636
00:37:24.329 --> 00:37:27.550
but I cannot think of anyone who more richly deserves
637
00:37:28.110 --> 00:37:31.050
to spend the rest of his life behind bars than
638
00:37:31.139 --> 00:37:35.920
Mick Philpott, who killed six of his own children. He
639
00:37:35.980 --> 00:37:39.400
is a man who deserves nothing but the greatest contempt,
640
00:37:40.300 --> 00:37:44.380
and I cannot understand, I will never understand, why he
641
00:37:44.420 --> 00:37:46.699
was not charged and convicted of murder.
642
00:37:47.760 --> 00:37:50.099
One small mercy it is that they would probably have
643
00:37:50.139 --> 00:37:52.880
died very quickly, but that didn't really help the poor
644
00:37:52.920 --> 00:37:56.079
firefighters who had to give evidence and tell about bringing
645
00:37:56.099 --> 00:37:57.610
the bodies out of the house and putting them on
646
00:37:57.619 --> 00:37:59.590
the lawn and trying to keep them alive outside.
647
00:38:00.429 --> 00:38:03.329
For the neighbors who tried to rescue the children, it
648
00:38:03.389 --> 00:38:04.750
was an emotional moment.
649
00:38:04.769 --> 00:38:07.750
I was relieved that it was over. I was a
650
00:38:07.769 --> 00:38:12.639
bit shocked that it was him. Because if you did
651
00:38:12.679 --> 00:38:21.739
see him with his kids, his family, Very heartbreaking. Because
652
00:38:22.159 --> 00:38:25.000
he did love his kids. He showed that very much.
653
00:38:26.780 --> 00:38:30.760
I think it was some sort of ploy to get
654
00:38:30.800 --> 00:38:32.880
something out of. I didn't think it was meant to
655
00:38:32.920 --> 00:38:34.940
spread that fast to fire. I didn't think it was
656
00:38:34.980 --> 00:38:38.530
meant to kill anyone. I think it was a very
657
00:38:38.590 --> 00:38:43.269
stupid thing to do. And unfortunately he paid for it.
658
00:38:44.550 --> 00:38:47.570
The case has had a lasting effect on the nation,
659
00:38:48.070 --> 00:38:50.750
nowhere more so than in Derby itself.
660
00:38:51.409 --> 00:38:55.530
I think the initial impact was massive. I think it
661
00:38:55.570 --> 00:38:58.460
was huge. Certainly at the time of the fire and
662
00:38:58.480 --> 00:39:02.260
in the next almost year until the guilty verdict came in,
663
00:39:02.760 --> 00:39:07.460
it was the biggest story that Derby's ever seen. I
664
00:39:07.599 --> 00:39:10.969
once thought to myself and I once said that I
665
00:39:11.010 --> 00:39:13.909
didn't think Derby would get over this. I thought it
666
00:39:13.929 --> 00:39:16.130
was too big and too tragic a story for a
667
00:39:16.340 --> 00:39:18.119
city the size of Derby.
668
00:39:18.460 --> 00:39:19.119
Could forget.
669
00:39:20.360 --> 00:39:20.820
But it has.
670
00:39:21.440 --> 00:39:24.530
And it's got stronger. The city's definitely got stronger. It's
671
00:39:24.619 --> 00:39:29.969
united people. And he is the common enemy of the city.
672
00:39:30.349 --> 00:39:31.809
where he was born and raised.
673
00:39:32.769 --> 00:39:37.170
Philpott was the evil ringleader in a despicable plan that
674
00:39:37.230 --> 00:39:39.989
led to the death of six innocent children.
675
00:39:40.639 --> 00:39:43.579
To me, it sounds like Philpott was more upset that
676
00:39:43.619 --> 00:39:46.280
the plan didn't work than the loss of the kids.
677
00:39:46.639 --> 00:39:49.349
I think he will hit them. I think it hits
678
00:39:49.570 --> 00:39:55.309
any father, you know, unless you are a 100% psychopath,
679
00:39:55.349 --> 00:39:57.969
which is like you have zero emotions towards other human
680
00:39:58.010 --> 00:40:01.420
beings and you pretend everything. And I don't think he
681
00:40:01.460 --> 00:40:02.280
was that detached.
682
00:40:03.679 --> 00:40:06.440
I think that Mick Philpott did an incredibly evil and
683
00:40:06.460 --> 00:40:10.639
an incredibly selfish thing. He was essentially looking to get
684
00:40:10.719 --> 00:40:14.130
revenge for a perceived wrong against him by a woman
685
00:40:14.190 --> 00:40:17.849
who he thought was under his control. The most tragic
686
00:40:17.929 --> 00:40:21.030
part of this case is the fact that six children's
687
00:40:21.110 --> 00:40:26.190
lives were lost in Mick Philpott's attempts to basically rescue
688
00:40:26.250 --> 00:40:29.989
his own ego. My view of him as a criminologist,
689
00:40:30.030 --> 00:40:33.929
he was an incredibly narcissistic and a very dangerous man.
690
00:40:34.070 --> 00:40:37.380
He was always going to result in somebody else being harmed.
691
00:40:37.780 --> 00:40:40.780
His actions would always lead to someone else coming to
692
00:40:40.840 --> 00:40:43.599
harm because it was all about him. He never had
693
00:40:43.760 --> 00:40:46.139
any empathy, any concern for anybody else.
694
00:40:46.670 --> 00:40:49.449
There is not one single word you can find to
695
00:40:49.510 --> 00:40:53.309
explain or apologise for his actions. Seldom have I ever
696
00:40:53.349 --> 00:40:59.949
thought of someone as grotesque and as thoughtless and as
697
00:41:00.570 --> 00:41:04.380
vain as Philpott is. There is something about him that
698
00:41:04.429 --> 00:41:06.760
genuinely does send a chill down your spine.
699
00:41:08.400 --> 00:41:12.699
Mick Philpott is a greedy and selfish man. His lust
700
00:41:12.760 --> 00:41:15.760
for revenge on a woman who left him led to
701
00:41:15.800 --> 00:41:19.329
the death of six of his own children. He may
702
00:41:19.409 --> 00:41:22.289
not have meant to have killed them, but his devious
703
00:41:22.389 --> 00:41:25.030
plan in which he involved his wife and a friend
704
00:41:25.670 --> 00:41:32.320
meant that Duane, Jade, John, Jack, Jesse and Jayden died
705
00:41:32.400 --> 00:41:36.579
in the most horrific way. The city of Derby now
706
00:41:36.679 --> 00:41:40.659
chooses to remember them and not the name of Mick Philpot,
707
00:41:41.159 --> 00:41:43.650
one of the world's most evil killers.