Philpott fire: Live updates from day 24 of the manslaughter trial

Mairead Philpott – accused of the manslaughter of her six children – took the witness stand on Monday.

The 31-year-old, whom it was claimed by the prosecution in court last week had "broken ranks" against husband Mick Philpott, could be giving evidence for two to three days, it is understood.

The pair, along with family friend Paul Mosley, are jointly accused of being involved in a plan to frame the Philpotts' former lover, Lisa Willis.

Day 24 of the trial

4.10pm The trial has been adjourned until Tuesday at 10.15am.

4pm Mairead tells the court she was not always able to say "no" to her husband.

3.55pm Mairead is now being cross-examined by Anthony Orchard QC, Philpott's barrister.

3.52pm Shaun Smith, for Mairead, asked her: "Were there any ranks to break?"

Mairead replied: "No."

3.50pm Asked by Mr Smith how she felt "on the inside" in the immediate aftermath of the fire, Mairead replied: "I was crying, I was empty."

3.45pm Mairead admitted she smoked cannabis on a couple of occasions to help her sleep but denied she was "smashed out of her head all the time", as Philpott has said in evidence.

3.40pm Asked what she thought Philpott meant when he asked her if she was "sticking to the story", Mairead replied: "Not telling people about having sex with Shakey [Mosley]."

3.35pm Mairead is wiping tears from her eyes as she admits she cannot remember anything about two weeks she spent at the Premier Inn after the fire.

3.30pm Mairead said all she has to remember her children are footprints and locks of their hair.

3.20pm Mairead told the court that she can not remember anything about being at neighbour Franchesca Blavins' house or at the hospital after the fire.

She said: "I can only remember one thing about being in Derby and that was being told that all my children had passed away."

Mr Smith said: "Can you help us and the court by saying what that feels like?"

Mairead replied: "Like my insides had been ripped out."

3.15pm Mr Smith said: "It has been suggested there was a plan all along to get on to the conservatory roof and rescue the children through a window that would be open."

Mairead replied: "There was no plan."

3pm Mairead said when she went to bed that night the front lounge window was shut. Shaun Smith, for Mairead, asked her: "Are you able to help us say how or at what stage that window became open?"

Mairead replied: "No, I can't."

2.50pm Mairead told the court she let Mosley out of the front door in the early hours of May 11 after a sexual encounter involving all three defendants.

2.40pm Mairead is now being asked about events on May 10, the day before the fire. She said as far as she was concerned Paul Mosley had just come round to play snooker on the night of the fire. She said they asked him round later that night so they could go dogging but they did not go dogging in the end.

2.35pm Mairead said, on April 6, when Philpott was taking Colin Osborne's family to a darts match, she called him about the children playing up.

2.30pm Mairead said she felt "petrified" when she was threatened by Amanda Cousins on March 10 during a confrontation in the street.

2.25pm Mairead said she would never have contemplated killing her children at the same time as herself.

2.20pm Mairead Philpott told the court about her attempted suicide on February 21. She said she "just wanted to die", adding: "I thought if I was gone everyone would be happy."

2.15pm The trial has resumed.

12.45pm Mairead said she started sleeping with other men before the Christmas of 2011.

She said: "It was my idea we went dogging."

Mairead she fell pregnant from one encounter and had an abortion. She said: "He said `sort it'."

She told the court that she had sex with Paul Mosley "two or three times" before the fire and it was Philpott's idea.

The case is adjourned for lunch.

12.20pm Mairead said after Duwayne was born she was in an abusive relationship with a man who gave her two black eyes and cut off her hair.

Shortly after she met Mick Philpott.

She said: "He was my guardian angel, he was someone to make me feel safe."

She said after Philpott started seeing Ms Willis the two women got on "like sisters".

She said: "We were happy, we were close. Maybe to people our living arrangement was (unconventional) but to us it was a happy family."

Asked by Mr Smith about her job as a hospital cleaner, Mairead said: "I was a bit of peace away from the house, I enjoyed it."

Mr Smith said: "The family got bigger, was that for the benefits?"

Mairead said: "No it was for the love of the children."

She said Philpott proposed to her 10 minutes after the birth of their daughter Jade.

She said her wages and benefits were paid into Philpott's bank account and if she wanted money she would have to ask him for it.

Mairead said: "If you didn't ask there would be trouble."

Mr Smith said: "Why didn't you do what Lisa did 12 months later and walk out?"

Mairead said: "Because I loved him and I did not want to lose the children."

12.05pm Mairead Philpott is in the witness box.

Shaun Smith, for Mairead, said: "Mrs Philpott, in the early hours of May 11 last year did you start a fire in the hallway of 18 Victory Road?"

Mairead replied: "No."

"Would you ever take part in a plan which would risk the lives of your children?".

"No" replied Mairead.

Mairead said after leaving school she was raped and the police did nothing about it.

11.30am The next witness is George Cobbledick, a supervisor for a cleaning company and a cousin of Philpott's. He is also a former partner of Amanda Cousins.

His Mackworth-based firm had a contract to clean Eurocomm and he employed Lisa Willis, Philpott's former mistress.

Mr Cobbledick said two weeks before the fire he had a conversation with Ms Willis following comments made on Facebook.

Mr Cobbledick said Ms Willis said she would rather see Philpott burn than see his kids.

Under cross-examination Mr Latham said to Mr Cobbledick: "It was a figure of speech, wasn't it? It does not mean she was going to burn him, does it?"

Mr Latham said: "She (Ms Willis) was essentially a very unhappy woman. She was concerned about how she was going to get out of the situation because Mick was a particularly controlling individual."

Mr Cobbledick said: "She wanted a life, she wanted to take her kids and get away from him. At first I did not think she would do it. She wanted a life with another man or to live on her own."

10.50am The court is now being shown video extracts from Philpott's initial police interview on May 15 last year.

He said he heard what he thought was the windows being blown out.

Mr Orchard asked: "Which windows do you mean?"

Philpott replied: "The windows (in the lounge( by the hall."

Mr Orchard's re-examination is finished and the courtroom is being cleared while he is returned to the dock.

10.40am Philpott said he could not have been more co-operative with the police than he was when he was in interviews after the fire.

"I tried my best to give the police everything they wanted," Philpott said.

10.20am Mick Philpott is in the dock dressed in a grey suit, white shirt and pink tie. Mairead Philpott is in a black jumper and Paul Mosley is in a black coat.

Philpott is being re-examined by his barrister Anthony Orchard QC.

Philpott said he spilled petrol on his hands and clothing when he helped neighbour Adam Taylor change the mix in the petrol strimmer he lent him a few days before the fire.

He told the court that the reason he not mention dogging or three-way sex between the defendants was because he was "ashamed of it". He also thought that if it came out in the media it would mean he would not see the children he has with Lisa Willis.

Richard Latham QC, prosecuting, claims Mick Philpott is the "prime mover" in a scheme which involved the three of them deliberately setting fire to the family home in Victory Road, Allenton, in May last year.

He has told their trial at Nottingham Crown Court that the plan "went horribly wrong" and resulted in the deaths of Jade Philpott, 10, and her brothers, Duwayne, 13, Jack, nine, John, eight, Jesse, six and Jayden, five.

All six children died from the effects of smoke inhalation following the blaze in the early hours of May 11.

Monday marked the start of the sixth week of the trial, in which all three defendants deny six counts of manslaughter.

On Friday, Mr Latham, in cross-examination of Philpott, said: "The plan was to light that fire, make a 999 call and rescue the children with a ladder from the back window wasn't it, Mr Philpott?"

Philpott replied: "Ladies and gentlemen, I did not light that fire, I did not endanger my children and nor did my wife."

Mr Latham said: "The only window that you believed would be open was your daughter's.

"You thought it was going to be unlocked, didn't you?

"You were going to be able to get up the ladder, open that window and get your children out.

"You were going to be the hero and the victim and the same time."

Philpott replied: "Definitely not."

The jury has been told how Ms Willis, who has five children, to four of whom Philpott is the father, walked out of 18 Victory Road on February 11 last year.

She and Philpott were locked in a custody battle over those children and were due for a court hearing on the morning of the blaze.

The court has also been told that Mairead tried to take her own life, 10 days after Ms Willis walked out, by swallowing 120 paracetamol tablets, and ended up in Royal Derby Hospital for three days.

The trial continues.

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