Vile product of Welfare UK: Man who bred 17 babies by five women to milk benefits system is guilty of killing six of them

Mick Philpott treated his children like cash cows generating £60,000 a year in benefits



He plotted to set fire to the family home with his wife Mairead to frame Philpott’s former live-in lover Lisa Willis

The gamble was to save the youngsters, win back custody and get a bigger council house



After he was convicted, it also emerged that ‘Shameless Mick’ faces a fresh police investigation for allegedly raping a woman



He was jailed for trying to kill a schoolgirl lover, stabbing her 27 times after she ended their relationship

He planned to ‘get rich quick’ – turning funeral funds donated by the local community into Argos vouchers



He treated his 17 sons and daughters like cash cows – generating a staggering benefits income of £60,000 a year.

Yesterday, Mick Philpott remained shameless to the last.

The drug-taking layabout, who embodies everything that is wrong with the welfare state, was still smiling even after being convicted of killing six of his children.



Killers: A court drawing shows the moment Mick Philpott, wife Mairead and friend Paul Mosley were found guilty of deliberately starting a fire which claimed the lives of six of the Philpotts's children

Co-conspirators: Mick and Mairead Philpott appeared at a press conference (left) in a tearful ruse to appeal for information after the fire last year. They are pictured (right) on their wedding day in May 2003



Together with his wife Mairead and friend Paul Mosley, he plotted to set fire to the family home in an appalling attempt to frame Philpott’s former live-in lover Lisa Willis.

The deadly gamble was to save the six youngsters, blame Miss Willis, and win back custody of five children who had recently moved out of the cramped three-bedroom semi with her.



A bigger council house was also on the agenda.

As the cynical trio were found guilty at Nottingham Crown Court of manslaughter, Philpott’s sister-in-law, Bernadette Duffy, screamed: ‘You murdering b*******. I knew it from day one.’

Incredibly, the tragic Philpott chlldren were not being regularly monitored by social workers despite dangerous living conditions and their father’s notorious appearances on national television where he boasted of his sex-obsessed and benefits-funded lifestyle.



Philpott pictured with the six children, aged between five and 13, who perished in the house fire

Destroyed: The children perished when the fire tore through their home (above) in Derby, last May Plot: A Crown Prosecution Service photo showing the ladder (left) which Philpott placed at the back of the house as part of his plan to rescue his children after starting the fire Sordid: The caravan where Mick Philpott used to sleep with his wife and mistress on alternate nights As an inquiry was launched into the case, it also emerged that: ‘Shameless Mick’ faces a fresh police investigation for allegedly raping a woman who went on to bear one of his children. He was jailed for trying to kill a schoolgirl lover, stabbing her 27 times after she ended their relationship. Philpott plotted to ‘get rich quick’ – turning funeral funds donated by the local community into Argos vouchers bears.

Scorched: The charred landing reveals just how fierce the fire was when it ripped through the house Ravaged: The petrol-fuelled blaze broke out in the hallway of the home where Philpott lived with wife Mairead, 31, and their own six children - all of whom perished as they slept Yesterday Philpott, 56, shouted obscenities before saying ‘it’s not over yet’ moments after Mrs Justice Thirlwall asked for the verdicts to be received in silence ‘out of respect for the memories’ of the children he had killed.

But with typical arrogance, Philpott, who infamously appeared on the Jeremy Kyle Show to demand a bigger council house, crossed himself, waved and smiled as he was led away.

The court heard how Philpott lived with his wife, Miss Willis and their combined 11 children in his cramped three-bedroom council house in Allenton, Derby. Doomed: Firefighters said the children would not have been able to survive the intense heat and thick smoke Spread rapidly: From the moment the fire was set in the hallway, the flames would have surged up the uPVC front door, melting the plastic, and quickly progressed up the staircase, firefighters said But he was left irate after Miss Willis, 29, became disillusioned with his ‘domineering behaviour’ and summoned the courage to escape the unconventional family home with her five children early last year. That decision to leave, taking with her more than £1,000 a month in benefit payments, was the ‘catalyst for everything that was to follow’. Miss Willis, a cleaner, was due to face Philpott at a custody hearing just hours after the blaze and Philpott became the ‘driving force’ of a heinous plan to set her up, the court heard. Ignited: The door to the hallway where the fire was started with petrol Fire-starter: A petrol can that was found near the property in Victory Road after the blaze Evidence: Crown Prosecution Service photo of a glove and Dr Pepper bottle found near the scene of the fire 'Upsetting and shocking case:' Assistant Chief Constable Steve Cotterill (centre) of Derbyshire Police issues a statement outside Nottingham Crown Court after the verdicts He began telling friends she had threatened his home and his children, something he would ‘use in court to get his children back’. Less than a fortnight before the fire, he reported to police that she had made a telephone threat to kill him. Philpott calculated that a fire could also land him a new, bigger council house – something he had been demanding from the local authority ever since his notorious appearance on Jeremy Kyle in 2006. No hope: Thick, black smoke would have quickly filled each of the rooms from floor to ceiling, rendering the six children (clockwise from top left) - Duwayne, 13, Jade, 10, John, nine, Jessie, six, Jayden, five, and Jack, eight - unconscious in minutes Killed by their own parents: Six wooden crosses mark the graves of the Philpott children

Young lives destroyed: The six coffins carrying the Philpotts's children are carried into St Mary's Roman Catholic Church for their funeral last year Community in shock: Floral tributes adorn the pavement outside the house Philpott shared with Mairead in Allenton, Derby, after the fire on May 14 last year On May 11 last year, after Philpott had a sordid sex session with his wife and Mosley on their home snooker table, the fire was lit, with the intention that the six children sleeping upstairs would be saved through an upstairs window, with Philpott both ‘the hero and the victim’. But the idiotic plan went disastrously wrong. Too much petrol was used and the fire burned out of control – leaving Philpott unable to reach the children in temperatures approaching 1,000F.

Jade Philpott, ten, and brothers Duwayne, 13, John, nine, Jack, eight, Jesse, six and Jayden, five, all died of smoke inhalation.

Denied charges: A drawing of Philpott breaking down in the witness box as he gives evidence during the trial

Denial: Mairead Philpott tells jurors she didn't know who had started the fire because she was asleep

In the dock: Mick Philpott (second from left) and wife Mairead (second from right) appear at Nottingham Crown Court along with co-defendant Paul Mosley (right) ahead of their trial

Facing justice: A prison van carrying Michael and Mairead Philpott and Paul Mosley at Nottingham Crown Court for the start of the trial in February

Taking it in: Jimmy Duffy, the father of Mairead Philpott, hugs daughter Bernadette, outside after the verdicts

Difficult time: Mairead Philpott's father Jimmy Duffy (pictured hugging his daughter Bernadette) said he had difficulty accepting his daughter's involvement

Facing jail: Maired and Mick Philpott embrace at their home

After the fire, the brand of petrol which was discovered on the clothing of all three defendants was also found in the U-bend of the sink inside the house.

Petrol on Philpott’s clothing was also found inside the front door. He simply claimed that fuel was found because he had not washed for three months.

While his wife was seen to be distraught, Philpott was overheard afterwards saying: ‘It wasn’t meant to end like this.’

During a fortnight of surveillance at the hotel where they were put up by police in May, the couple were heard whispering about the case, with Philpott recorded telling his wife to ‘stick to your story’.

The couple were charged by police on May 30 in connection with the deaths and Mosley was arrested in the months afterwards, having told a friend the plan had been for him to rescue the children.

Police initially charged the trio with murder but downgraded this to manslaughter because while their actions were sickeningly reckless, the defendants had not intended to kill the six.

Yesterday Philpott’s sister, Dawn Bestwick, said his family believed ‘justice has been served’.



‘This past year has been a very difficult time for our family as we have had to come to terms with what Michael and Mairead and Paul Mosley have done,’ she said.

‘We can now attempt to move on and our six angels can rest in peace.’

They worked, he took the money Mick Philpott was raking in £60,000 a year as a result of his 'three-way relationship', police say.

The cash was paid to both Lisa WIllis and his wife Mairead, both part time cleaners, in working tax credits and child benefit for the total of 11 children they raised with Philpott. Although he was not claiming any benefits himself, the five-figure sum was channeled straight into his bank account as he refused to let the women manage their own financial affairs.

During the trial, prosecutor Richard Latham QC said: 'Michael Philpott did not want to work. He just wanted a house full of kids and the benefit money that brings.' The last full-time job Philpott had was in 1991 as a bakery manager. Since then he has done odd jobs for cash, including running pub trips.



Mrs Philpott’s family said the children had been taken away in the ‘cruellest way imaginable by the very people who were supposed to love and protect them.’



Her sister Bernadette, who was ejected from the courtroom, said she was convinced of the Philpotts’ guilt from the outset.

Derbyshire Police said a serious case review will examine ‘Mairead’s role as a mother’ as well as the extent of any involvement social services may have had with the family.

Andrew Bunyan, of Derby City Council, said questions would be asked as to ‘whether there are immediate changes that need to be made to the way local services operate to safeguard children’.

‘The local safeguarding children board will review the work of the agencies involved, even if, as in this case, the children were not subject to child protection plans or legal orders,’ he added.

Derbyshire Assistant Chief Constable Steve Cotterill described the crimes as ‘an evil, stupid, shameful act’.