Parents ‘rehearsed’ fire that killed their six children
Fatima Manji
Special Correspondent and Presenter
Mick and Mairead Philpott, whose six children were killed in a house fire, allegedly took part in a “rehearsal” of the fire along with their friend, a court hears.
Mick and Mairead Philpott, together with Paul Mosley, are all accused of the manslaughter of the six children who died after a fire at the Philpot family home in Derby.
Ten year-old Jade Philpott, nine-year-old John, eight-year-old Jack, six-year-old Jesse and Jayden, who was five, all died in the fire at Victory Road on 11 May 2012. Their brother Duwayne, who was thirteen, died later in hospital.
The prosecution case is that Mr and Mrs Philpott started the fire deliberately as part of a plan to frame Mr Philpott’s ex-girlfriend Lisa Willis, who used to live with them. Mr Philpott had become locked in a custody battle with Ms Willis after she moved out with the four children she had had with him.
Today, the trial at Nottingham Crown Court heard of how Mr and Mrs Philpott and their friend Paul Mosley supposedly practised their parts in the fire.
Witness Melissa John, who is the girlfriend of Mosley’s nephew, said after Mosley had been arrested and bailed in connection with the fire he had said: “What if I was to tell you that we actually rehearsed this six weeks ago?”
Prosecutor Richard Latham QC asked Ms John what the plan was.
She replied: “Mick and Mairead were to be inside the house and Paul was to kick in the back door.”
Ms John also said the parents of the children were then to “run out on to the front and scream for help” while Mosley would “save the children from the back bedroom.”
The court heard Ms John say that Mosley had been “bragging” about being out on bail.
“He said he knew more than he had told the police. He said it was a plan and something had gone wrong,” she said in her evidence.
She also said Mosley had told her that Mick Philpott had been “going on about wanting a bigger house”.
The jury was also played covert recordings of conversations between Mick and Mairead Philpott after the fire. Serious and Organised Crime detectives bugged the hotel room the Philpotts were staying in to monitor the couple twenty four hours a day.
All three defendants deny the charges. The trial continues this afternoon, when the jury will hear covert police recordings of the Philpots recorded after the fire.