Father accused of starting fatal blaze was locked in custody battle with woman he claimed had threatened him, trial hears
A father accused of killing six of his children in a house fire started the blaze as part of a plan to frame his ex-girlfriend after becoming locked in a custody battle with her, a court has heard.
Mick Philpott, along with his wife, Mairead, allegedly started the fire at their semi-detached home after making reports to the police that his former partner Lisa Willis had been threatening him and his family.
There were emotional scenes at Nottingham crown court as the 999 call made by the couple as the fire took hold was played to the jury.
Philpott stood and tried to leave the dock, saying "I can't listen to it", before being made to sit down by security officers. He spent the remaining minutes sobbing, his head bowed and hands over his ears, as the call played out.
The court was told the family shared an unconventional lifestyle: Philpott, 56, his 31-year-old wife and 28-year-old Willis all lived in the same house. A total of 11 children also lived there: six were those of Mick and Mairead Philpott, four were his children with Willis, and the other was Willis's with another man.
Mick and Mairead Philpott's children – Jade, 10, and her brothers Duwayne, 13, John, nine, Jack, eight, Jesse, six, and Jayden, five – all died after the fire began at their home in Victory Road, Allenton, Derby, in the early hours of 11 May last year.
The couple, along with a third defendant, Paul Mosley, 46, deny six separate counts of manslaughter.
At the start of their trial on Tuesday, the prosecutor Richard Latham QC told the jury of six men and six women that the fire was started in the early hours of the morning on the day Willis and Philpott were due in court to discuss the residency of the children.
She had left Philpott and the Victory Road property in February last year, taking her children with her, and had become embroiled in a bitter battle with Philpott, the court heard. He planned to frame her and eventually win his children back, and had made numerous reports to the police that she had threatened him, his wife and the children, the jury was told.
Latham said: "By May 1st Mick Philpott was reporting to the police that Lisa Willis had made telephone threats to kill him. The police visited him, he was at times highly emotional and made it clear that he wanted Lisa arrested. If she had been, this would have assisted him in the court proceedings, wouldn't it?"
About a fortnight before the fire Philpott told friends he had an idea for a way of getting Willis and the children back, Latham said. "He told people he had a plan up his sleeve and that she wasn't going to get away with it – watch this space."
Guardian