Evil Mick Philpott jailed for life as wife and friend get 17 years

His wife Mairead was sentenced to 17 years in prison. Their co-defendant 46-year-old Paul Mosley was also jailed for 17 years, at Nottingham Crown Court.

Mairead and Mosley will probably serve just half of those terms behind bars.

Cheers rang out in the public gallery and there was applause and cries of 'Die Mick die!' before order was restored.

Philpott gave the courtroom an obscene gesture and swore as he was taken down to the cells. Mairead broke down in tears as the sentences were read out.

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Describing the case as having "no precedent" the Judge Mrs Justice Thirlwall said Philpott used his conviction for attempting to murder a girlfriend in 1978 to terrify other women, adding: "You are disturbingly dangerous man, operating under the impression that what Mick Philpott wants, he gets.

"You have repeatedly used that conviction as a means of controlling other women, terrified as to what you would do to them."

The judge said the plot to set fire to the house and rescue the children was "a wicked and dangerous plan", adding it was "outside the comprehension of any right-thinking person".

She added : "All three of you are responsible for those deaths – I have not the slightest doubt Michael Philpott you were the driving force."

Philpott shook his head in the dock as the as judge outlined his previous violent relationships – including the time he stabbed a former girlfriend 13 times.

"It is clear you used that old conviction as a way of controlling other women," the judge said. "You bark orders and they obey, you were the kingpin. Everything was done for the pleasure of Michael Philpott.

"You had to do something extreme to get your own way and you did," the judge added.

"The plan was to cast yourself as a hero on the night of the fire – it was a wicked and dangerous plan. It became clear there was no chance of a successful rescue.

"Within minutes you were telling people Lisa Wilis (his former mistress) was to blame, but she had nothing to do with this fire.

"You did not intend to kill your children but what you did intend was to subject your children to a terrifying ordeal, you simply did not care, you were going to get your own way."

The judge told Philpott that ever since the fire his life had been a "performance" and told him that he had "no moral compass".

The pair were convicted by jurors at Nottingham Crown Court of the unlawful killing of the six siblings in the blaze at the family home in Victory Road, Derby, on May 11 last year.

Mosley, was also found guilty of manslaughter by the jury following an eight-week trial.

During the trial, the court heard that the six youngsters – Jade Philpott, 10, and her brothers John, nine, Jack, eight, Jesse, six, Jayden, five, and Duwayne, 13 – all died as a result of the petrol-fuelled blaze that tore through their three-bed council house.

The children were asleep in their beds upstairs when the fire, which was set inside the semi-detached house by the front door, took hold in the early hours.

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