Mick Philpott may have killed six children by setting fire to his house but he is a "very good father", a court heard today.

The astonishing claim was made by his own barrister Anthony Orchard QC in mitigation before he is sentenced tomorrow.

It came as police today confirmed that Philpott is under investigation over new allegations of rape and other victims spoke out about his brutal past.

Asked about the rape allegation, Derbyshire Assistant Chief Constable Steve Cotterill said: "Any allegations or issues arising from this investigation will be followed up and investigated thoroughly."

Father-of-17 Philpott was convicted yesterday of the manslaughter of the children at his home in Derby last May.

He faces a major prison sentence with his wife Mairead and friend Paul Mosley who were found guilty of the same charge.

Mrs Justice Thirlwall adjourned sentence at Nottingham Crown Court.

Today Mr Orchard told the court: "Despite Mr Philpott’s faults he was a very good father and loved those children. All the witnesses agree on this.

"There’s no evidence at any stage that he deliberately harmed any of them."

Mr Orchard said the plan to set the fire had gone "disastrously wrong" because it spread too quickly.

The judge interrupted to say that the children, if they had been saved, would still have been terrified.

Also mitigating, Shaun Smith QC, for Mrs Philpott, said the children had led happy lives despite living for a time with their mother, father and their father's girlfriend.

Mr Smith said Mairead had spent 12-and-a-half of her 32 years with Philpott.

He added: "She would do whatever he said, whatever he wanted."

Meanwhile police have interviewed a woman who says she was raped by Philpott in 2005 but she only came forward seven years later after hearing of the house fire.

She says she was attacked in his caravan while pretending to be asleep in the middle of the afternoon.

She described how she had been terrified by Philpott’s bragging about once leaving a woman for dead.

The victim whom he had left for dead after being stabbed 27 times by him demanded he should be "strung up" for killing six children.

Kim Hill, who was scarred for life in the 1978 attack, said: "I’l l never forget his eyes – pure evil."

Miss Hill, now 51, suffered collapsed lungs and a punctured bladder, liver and kidneys.

Philpott, known locally as "Shameless Mick", had plotted to set fire to the family home in Allenton, Derby to frame his former lover Lisa Willis.

In a cynical, get rich quick gamble he planned to save the children, blame Miss Willis and win back custody of five other children who had recently moved out with her.

With his three-bedroom council house in ruins he hoped he would be given the bigger property he had always wanted.

But he used too much petrol and with temperatures reaching 1,000F, he was unable to rescue the children.

Jade Philpott, 10, and brothers Duwayne, 13, John, nine, Jack, eight, Jesse, six, and Jayden, five, all died of smoke inhalation.

Until early last year he had lived with Miss Willis, 29, and their combined 11 children in the cramped house.

Fed up with his bullying she walked out with her children, taking £1,000 a month benefits with her.

Philpott, 57, whose benefit scrounging, rising to £60,000 a year, had become notorious since his appearance on the Jeremy Kyle TV show in 2006, was furious and vowed revenge on her.

The fire was lit in May last year after Philpott, his wife and Mosley, 46, had had a sordid sex session on their home snooker table.

All three were originally accused of murder but the charge was downgraded to manslaughter on the basis that however criminally reckless they had been they had not intended to kill the children.