On 10 March 2012, the police are called to a confrontation between Philpott and Lisa. She still refuses to return to him.It’s becoming obvious to Philpott that his usual combination of sweet talk, threats and bullying will not win this woman back.He tells Mairead of his plan to win back Lisa. They will start a fire in their home, blame Lisa, win custody of her children, and then Lisa will have to return. For the plan to work, Mairead must risk the lives of her children, and this will be in order for Philpott to win back his mistress.Mairead agrees.She will do anything to maintain her marriage.However, for Philpott, Mairead is utterly ‘expendable’.

Philpott includes his best mate, Paul Mosley, in the plan. Paul had been convicted of robbery as a teenager, but has not been in trouble with the police since.

Philpott starts mentioning to friends and acquaintances that Lisa has threatened to set fire to the family home. When he posts on Facebook the accusation that her brother in law fathered her eldest, Lisa reacts. She phones Mick and he alleges she threatens him.Philpott is delighted. He immediately rings the police and demands her arrest.He’s furious when they refuse.He repeatedly tries to draw the police into his plan. He repeatedly fails.But a court hearing is set for 11 May to determine the children’s arrangements. Most think Philpott hasn’t a chance of winning custody.But he says he’s not bothered. He has his plan.

THE HERO OF THE HOURHis plan will later be described as ‘outside the comprehension of any right thinking person.’ He intends to start the fire the night before the court hearing. He wants the court to hear how in the moment of crisis, as the flames licked around the base of the house, he, Michael Philpott had stepped up, using a ladder, to rescue his trapped and screaming children.

The court would surely have no choice but to award custody to the heroic fire-fighting and child saving Mick. And surely the police would now arrest the arsonist and child endangering Lisa.And then, when it was all over, and Lisa was released, she would come back to her Mick. And they would all once again be a big, big happy family.

It would have been miraculous if any part of this plan had actually worked.

At 3:30am on 11 May 2012, at 18 Victory Road, Derby, there would be no miracles.

ACCIDENT OR ARSON?On 11 May, as a shocked nation watches the news footage of the smouldering wreckage of 18 Victory Road, Lisa Willis is arrested. As a result of Philpott’s accusations to everyone and anyone, the police must deal with their prime suspect. Lisa’s children are taken into care. Of the six children that went to bed at 18 Victory Road the night before, only the eldest, Duwayne, survives. He is on a ventilator in Birmingham Children’s Hospital. Various people keep a bedside vigil by him. Philpott and Mairead are concerned that the hospital hasn’t provided them with food. They order a Chinese takeaway. Onlookers are appalled when Mick and Mairead Philpott have a food fight. On 12 May Lisa is released without charge. The police confirm the fire was started deliberately. Three days after the fire, Philpott and Mairead switch off Duwayne’s life support machine. Grief and shock overcome the community. Many raise money so that the children can have decent funerals and donate it to the Philpotts. The reaction of Mr and Mrs Philpott seems inappropriate. They go on shopping sprees. “The way they was acting...I started to have my suspicions. They were going downtown shopping for clothes...you know, I couldn’t function if that was me. I wouldn’t want to get up in the morning.” Sharon Russell, family friend With no home, the Philpotts stay at a local hotel. When Mairead tries to discuss what has gone on Philpott tells her to ‘shush’. He’s paranoid the police may have bugged their rooms. He’s right. Just four days after the fire, police have been given permission to secretly record the parent’s conversations. They record Philpott telling Mairead; “You make sure you stick to your story.” Five days after the fire, Philpott tells the police he wants to hold a press conference. He gives what he thinks is a masterful performance: “I’ve actually been down to my...our home, and...what we saw .. we just cannot believe it.” Neighbour Darren Butler can’t believe it either. He thought Philpott was mimicking grief on the night of the fire and put it down to shock. He’s now suspicious enough to pass on an almost unbelievable suggestion: A father and mother deliberately burnt their six children to death. Many are now thinking the same. Some of Philpott’s press statements ring alarm bells. Philpott says he’s overwhelmed by the help and support he and Mairead are receiving. Some think this is the last thing a distraught father would be feeling at such a time: “The only thing on your mind, during that press conference is ‘Please find who killed my children.’ That's all you concentrate on. And when I watch that press conference, I struggle to see that at all. All I can see is a man, almost with a script, thinking it’s important to let everyone know how grateful he is. And let me tell you, psychologically, the last thing you are after all your children have died in a house fire, is grateful.” Emma Kenny, Psychologist “There was not one tear on that man’s face. There is not one part of that man that feels any remorse for those children. Because the only person that he has ever felt anything for, is Mick Philpott.” Dr Keri Nixon, Forensic Psychologist Philpott’s first victim, Kim Hill, also watches the conference. She knows he’s killed his children. When Philpott hears his neighbour Adam Taylor is being accused of starting the fire, he passes this onto the police. Taylor and his wife are arrested on six counts of murder. Philpott’s initial plan is unravelling. He’s now pointing the finger at anyone who will take suspicion away from him. But with mounting evidence of who the real fire-starters were, on 29 May, police arrest Mick and Mairead Philpott on suspicion of murder. When the children’s funeral is held, prison authorities refuse to let their parents attend.

STICKING TO THE STORY In December 1978 Philpott had been tried, sentenced and jailed for GBH and attempted murder. But this previous conviction can’t be revealed to the court and it’s decided to reduce the charge against Philpott from murder to manslaughter. In March 2013, at Nottingham Crown Court, he is charged with six counts of manslaughter. He pleads ‘Not Guilty.’ Unbeknownst to him, the police have maintained their bugging operation. The van that takes him and Mairead to their first court appearance records them repeating the phrase of ‘sticking to the story’.In court, Philpott is once again the centre of attention:“It was the Philpott show. His description of his sexual behaviour, references to his dogging, to his threesomes, to his sexual desires. The fact that that even featured at the trial, following the death of his six children is shocking.” Dr Keri Nixon, Forensic PsychologistAs deplorable as the spectacle is, there is the consolation that he is sealing his own fate with the jurors. Both they and the judge come to see that here is a man without a ‘moral compass’.He is so delusional that he writes to his friend Mick Russell of the rape fantasies he wants to put into practise as soon as the trial is over. The letter has echoes of the equally misjudged letter he sent to his first victim Kim Hill. In that, he asked a woman he’d nearly killed to consider marriage. In this letter, he describes to his friend how they’ll visit the kids’ graves and force Mairead to have sex with them.Brothers Jamie and Darren Butler give evidence. Their descriptions of Philpott and Mairead on the night of the fire are damning. Darren tries to catch the attention of either of the accused. Neither will look at him. The court hears how petrol additives are on the parent’s clothing, and on the jeans, jumper and one of the shoes of Philpott’s friend, Paul Mosley. Witnesses report that Paul had said they’d all practised starting the fire six weeks prior to the crime. The image of the children being at least well cared for also starts to crack. It emerges that all but one of them went to sleep in their clothes that night. The parents were too intent on getting drunk, stoned and having a threesome to even dress their children in their pyjamas.On 3 April, Mick Philpott, 56, Mairead Philpott, 31 and their friend Paul Mosley, 46 are found guilty of manslaughter.“...this is a unique sentencing exercise. You have each been convicted of 6 counts of manslaughter. Each count represents the death of a child.” Mrs Justice Thirwall, Sentencing JudgeMick Philpott is given a life sentence with a minimum of 15 years inside.Mairead and Mosley are jailed for 17 years.DIE MICK DIE As Philpott was lead away the court echoes with cries of ‘Die, Mick, die’. He responds true to form. He sticks two fingers up.Mairead and Mosley will likely serve only half their sentence. But Mick will not be released if the Parole Board considers him still a threat. Even then, he’ll be on a ‘life license’ meaning he could be recalled to jail at any time.

In April 2013, as Mick Philpott began his life sentence in Wakefield prison, a national debate erupted over the state of welfare dependency in Britain. Even the Chancellor George Osborne joined in by questioning whether the welfare state should subsidise such people.In May, Mairead’s own father said her appeal against her sentence was a waste of taxpayer’s money adding;“She should have got as long as Mick did for what she did.”In June it was revealed that Mick Philpott was being interviewed by police in his high-security prison. Witnesses, who had been interviewed during the investigation into his arson, had broken down and revealed their rapes by Philpott. One dated back to 1996. The demolition of the burnt out house at 18 Victory Road also began that month.In July, fourteen months after their deaths, the six children finally had gravestones put on their graves. The local community had raised the £15,000 necessary for their funeral and memorial.“And the saddest thing is that I doubt anybody will remember the names of those six children: Duwayne, Jade, John, Jack, Jesse, and Jayden. But I guarantee every one of us will remember Mick Philpott. And that's a tragedy.” Emma Kenny, PsychologistFor Kim Hill, Philpott’s first victim, the damage he inflicted never seems to end. She was forced to have a hysterectomy because of a prolapsed womb caused by Philpott’s stabbings.And then Kim’s mother Shirley was diagnosed with terminal cancer of the liver. The family remain convinced that the cancer resulted from the scarring inflicted by Philpott when he stabbed her eleven times. They believe that she is the last victim of Mick Philpott.

“Any mother...would recoil in horror at the idea of lighting a fire beneath where your children are sleeping. I have never come across such selfish disregard for their children...Mairead doesn’t protect her children, in fact, she actually puts them in harm. And that’s unforgivable.” Dr Keri Nixon, Forensic PsychologistIt’s 10 May 2012. Mick and Mairead Philpott put their six children to bed. At 13, Duwayne is the eldest and is the ‘protector’ of his siblings. Ten-year-old Jade is the ‘mother hen’ of her younger brothers. They are nine-year-old John, eight-year-old Jack, six-year-old Jesse and the youngest, Jayden, is five.“Imagining them being put to bed that evening, they’re kissing their mum and dad goodnight, they are talking to each other, being like children, you know, excited little boys and girls, in bed. And Philpott and Mairead are doing that knowing what they are about to do.” Emma Kenny, PsychologistThey then invite over Paul Moseley. All three start drinking heavily. Mairead gets stoned. She then has a threesome with Philpott and Moseley on the snooker table.At around 3am, they pour petrol on the floor. Paul Mosley removes the petrol containers so there’ll be no incriminating evidence. At 3:30am Mick sets the petrol alight. He starts the fire in the hallway at the bottom of the stairs. He’s now cut off the children’s escape route. They exit and as the fire takes hold, they move to a neighbour’s garden. Mairead then rings the emergency services.OPERATOR: What’s your name duck? MAIRHEAD: Mrs Philpott OPERATOR: How many kids are in the house Mrs Philpott? MAIRHEAD: There’s six of them.Mick Philpott joins in the conversation:OPERATOR: Michael, can you see any flames? PHILPOTT: Nah, all I can see is black smoke. I can’t see anything else than black smoke... OPERATOR: ...Have you any idea what caused the fire? PHILPOTT: I’ve no idea mate. We’ve just been woke up by the alarm.Philpott starts to tell neighbours he thinks Lisa started the fire. Frantic neighbours are struck by his behaviour.“There was no emotion out of none of them. If he would have grabbed hold of me and said ‘Please, come on, let’s get in there. My kids are in there!’ I know that would have been a true man as a father.” Jamie Butler, neighbourJamie tries to get into the back bedroom. It’s impossible. Sickeningly quickly, all realise the smoke and flames are impenetrable. The children are trapped inside inhaling poisonous fumes.Fire fighters arrive. Professionally they’re experienced enough to know the children are lost. Personally, each one battles to save them.A small mercy is that the autopsies will later show the children’s deaths are ‘swift and, it would seem, without pain.’When it is possible, the first body is brought out. It is ten-year-old Jade. The last is thirteen-year-old Duwayne.“...you just knew as soon as you see them come out, their little souls were gone.” Darren Butler, NeighbourPhilpott asks his friends Sharon and Mick Russell to accompany him to the mortuary. Philpott looks at his dead children and shows no emotion. Bizarrely, when Mick starts to break down in tears, it’s Philpott that tries to console him:“...he was comforting me. I was sitting there crying my head off and he was comforting me. You know, I am supposed to be the one comforting him.” Mick RussellBut not all of Philpott’s children are dead. Duwayne is on life support. So they go to see him. Despite the life and death situation, Philpott and Mairead wonder off and leave their dying son several times. On one occasion, Mick Russell is appalled by what occupies Philpott’s attention:“All of a sudden I heard him shout, ‘Mick!’ And I turned round and I said ‘What?’ And he’s grabbing this girls arse and saying, “This is what I like.’ I said, ‘You got a lad in there dying mate and five of your kids are dead. Is that what you’re still thinking about?”