Philpott House Fire Trial: Father Breaks Down

By Darren Little, Nottingham Crown Court

A father accused of killing six of his children in a house fire slumped in the dock as his frantic 999 call was played to a court.

A sobbing Mick Philpott put his head in his hands and almost disappeared from view as a jury at Nottingham Crown Court listened to the recording.

Once the phone call finished Philpott was asked if he wanted a break, but got back to his feet and insisted on continuing to give evidence.

"I was hysterical," he said.

"How do you explain not being able to get to your babies?"

He wept as he said he was "screaming for his daughter" after climbing a ladder and trying to break her bedroom window.

Giving evidence at the start of his defence, the 56-year-old insisted he had nothing to do with the blaze - but that he had his suspicions about who did.

Anthony Orchard QC, defending Philpott, asked him: "Did you set the fire?"

"No," Philpott replied.

"Are you connected to the setting of the fire?" the counsel continued. Philpott responded: "No."

Floral tributes outside the Philpott home in May last year

Mr Orchard then asked the defendant if he knew who did start the blaze, to which Philpott replied that he did not.

Asked by the counsel: "Do you have your suspicions?" - Philpott answered: "I do."

Philpott admitted he, his wife and their co-accused Paul Mosley had engaged in sexual activity just hours before the fire.

After Mr Mosley had left in the early hours of the morning, Philpott said he and his wife had gone to bed and were woken by the fire alarm.

He said he tried to get up the stairs to his children but could not get through the smoke and fire.

When asked again about whether he was responsible for the fire Philpott said: "It's impossible for me or my wife to do. They (the children) are my life, my heart. They're everything to me."

He said that in the aftermath of the fire the three of them had another three or four sexual encounters together.

Philpott also said he was an occasional user of cannabis and had smoked after the deaths of the children.

He told the court: "I was finding it very difficult to cope with what was going on. Having sex or smoking cannabis was one way of blocking it out."

Jade, 10, and brothers John, nine, Jack, eight, Jesse, six and Jayden, five, all perished in the blaze on Victory Road in Allenton in May last year.

Their brother Duwayne, 13, was taken to Derby Royal Hospital but died three days later after being transferred to a Birmingham hospital.

Mick Philpott, 56, and his wife Mairead, 31, deny killing their six children after a "plan" to frame his ex-mistress Lisa Willis went wrong. A third defendant, Paul Mosley, 46, also denies six counts of manslaughter.

Miss Willis, 29, lived with the Philpotts and her five children, four of whom were fathered by Mick Philpott, until she left with the youngsters in February last year.

Asked about their relationship, he said: "At that particular time I thought that me and Lisa had this bond that was inseparable."

Philpott told the court he spent a lot of time with his wife and slept with Miss Willis in the evenings.

The court heard he openly discussed his desire to divorce his wife and marry Miss Willis, but said his wife would never leave him.

"She was not going anywhere," he told the jury. "Mairead will always be my wife, even if we got divorced."

Whilst giving evidence, Philpott became emotional while talking of his wife's attempted suicide after Miss Willis moved out.

Philpott told the court he was "distraught" when he realised his wife had taken an overdose.

He admitted the suicide attempt was a "wake up call", and admitted he had "made mistakes and had not been the best husband".

Jurors also heard of the family's appearance on television on the Jeremy Kyle Show - a move Philpott said he regretted because his children were bullied and the family received death threats afterwards.

Asked why he decided to go on the chat show by Mr Orchard, Philpott replied: "We all decided. At that time we needed a bigger house."

In response to claims that the fire was set last year because the family wanted a bigger house, Philpott told the court: "The house was quite sufficient."

The trial continues.

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