Philpott fire: live updates from day 22 of the Derby manslaughter trial

Mick Philpott, who is accused of the manslaughter of his six children, was back on the stand on Thursday.

The 56-year-old, his wife, Mairead Philpott, 31, and family friend Paul Mosley, 46, all deny the manslaughter of six Philpott children in a house fire in Allenton, Derby, last May.

Day 22 of the trial

4.35pm The trial has now been adjourned until 10.15am on Friday.

4.30pm Prosecutor Richard Latham told Philpott he was controlling to women, to Mairead, to Lisa Willis [his ex-mistress], to his previous partner.

Mr Latham said: "It's over and over again."

"No," Philpott replied. "I admit I have done a lot of things wrong, especially having two partners."

4.20pm Philpott denied knowing the hotel room in which he and Mairead were staying after the fire was bugged, despite being heard to say in the police covert recordings of the Premier Inn room: "It's all cameraed up, there's all cameras in here." He told the court this was said as a joke.

4.05pm Prosecutor Richard Latham asked Philpott why, after Mairead had her witness interview, did he ask her details about her story about the fire, such as what she said about how many times he had gone up the ladder.

Mr Latham said to Philpott: "You were not fussed about what she mentioned about dogging, you were fussed about the details of the fire, weren't you? That's what you were fussed about. Was she sticking to the story about the fire?"

Philpott replied: "No, there was no story about the fire."

3.25pm The trial has been adjourned for ten minutes.

3.20pm Mr Latham read out more extracts from the undercover police recordings. He said: "In them, you say 'it is times like this I keep thinking about Shakey'.

"You thought he might say something that would drop you in it, didn't you?"

Philpott replied: "I don't know where you get this idea from but, sorry, no."

Mr Latham said: "I am getting these ideas from the evidence in the case."

3.10pm Prosecutor Mr Latham said to Philpott: "You were in this together, weren't you?"

Philpott replied: "No, Mr Latham."

Mr Latham repeated: "You were in this together."

Philpott replied: "No, I can look you in the eye, look at the jury, swear on the Bible and on my children's graves I did not do this and nor did my wife."

3.05pm Mr Latham asked Philpott: "You said, 'I did not do it, on my life'. What does that mean?"

Philpott replied: "That I did not kill my children."

Mr Latham asked: "Why would you need to say that to your wife? She was your alibi wasn't she?"

Philpott replied: "No, not at all."

2.55pm Mr Latham is asking about the undercover police recordings. He said: "You whisper to Mairead 'are you sticking to the story'."

Philpott replied: "I did not whisper, I leaned forward to her."

Mr Latham said: "You were worried she had departed from the script?"

2.50pm Prosecutor Richard Latham, QC, is asking Philpott about the time after he was arrested.

He said: "The nightmare for you is what Mairead was saying to the police, wasn't it?

"You wanted to be in the room with her, didn't you?"

Philpott replied: "Of course I wanted to be with my wife."

2.40pm Prosecutor Richard Latham, QC, is now going to question Philpott. He said Mairead is going to give evidence and 'is no longer sticking to her story'.

Mr Latham said when Philpott doesn't get his way he flops to the ground and when he cries 'there are no tears'.

2.20pm Mick Philpott is about to be cross-examined by Ben Nolan QC, Paul Mosley's barrister.

Philpott has told the court that if his wife and Mosley would have had sex without him being present it would not have had his blessing.

Mr Nolan said: "On the night of the fire Shakey and your wife had full sex while you looked on, encouraging it, shouting crude words of encouragement?"

Philpott replied: "Definitely not, was you there? Definitely not."

1.50pm The case will resume at 2.10pm.

Philpott said on May 10 he asked Mosley to babysit so he could take his wife "somewhere special".

Mr Smith said: "Are you being serious Mr Philpott? You never took her anywhere special in your life."

He said: "We were going out for a meal and a drink. Something we have done once."

Mr Smith put it to Philpott that Mairead said she wanted to go dogging. He said: "I don't recall Mairead saying she wanted to go dogging."

He added that he had no intention of going dogging that night.

Philpott said his wife and his mistress had been lovers.

12.15pm Philpott said he had not been the "perfect partner". He said: "I have made a mistake by having two women. If I could turn the clock back I would."

11.15am Shaun Smith, for Mairead, and Philpott argued in court about whether or not he preferred Ms Willis to Mairead.

Philpott said: "I did not prefer Lisa, it was just that I did not have to prove to Mairead that I loved her, she knew that, but with Lisa I had to prove it all the time."

Philpott is raising his voice to Mr Smith's questions. Asked if he has any respect for Mairead, Philpott replied: "I can't believe you have asked me a question like that."

Mr Smith said: "Well, I just have."

Philpott said: "Of course I respect my wife."

11.05am Mr Smith has accused Philpott of being selfish and targeting women who are young and isolated.

Philpott said: "No."

Mr Smith said: "You said `I want two women in my life'."

Philpott said: "I did not want two women in my life but it happened and I regret it. It is an awkward situation and people don't understand that."

10.45am Mick Philpott has reiterated that he did not start the fire.

Cross examination begins from Shaun Smith, for Mairead.

Mr Smith said: "You treated Mairead like a skivvy, didn't you? She did everything even when you were living in that house with another woman."

Philpott said: "No. I have never controlled her life."

10.35am Mick Philpott is back on the stand. The court hears that he told police that they might find residue of petrol on his tracksuit bottoms and white trainers as he carried it through his house when he lent his strimmer to neighbour Adam Taylor "three to four days" before the fire.

Anthony Orchard QC said: "Why did you volunteer that information to the police?"

Philpott replied: "Because petrol was used when my kids died."

Mr Orchard questioned Philpott about his suspicions as to who started the fire.

He said he did not think his former mistress Lisa Willis was behind the fire but said someone might have started it on her behalf.

He said: "The reason I thought Amanda and Ian were behind it is because of the death threats they have sent me. I still believe that today."

10.10am Day 22 of the trial will resume shortly.

Philpott told the court that it was "impossible" for him to have murdered his six children because they meant "everything" to him.

Asked at his trial on Wednesday about being initially charged with six counts of murder over the death of the children at his Allenton home, he told Nottingham Crown Court: "I had been charged with something that was impossible – impossible for me and my wife to murder our own children. They are my life, my heart, they are everything to me."

The charges were later reduced to manslaughter and Philpott is on trial along with his wife Mairead and family friend Paul Mosley.

The prosecution claims the fire was started in a bid to frame Philpott's former live-in lover, Lisa Willis, with whom Philpott was embroiled in a custody battle for their four children.

Wednesday morning's first court session saw the father take to the witness box for the first time as the defence opened its case.

After Philpott took the oath, holding the Bible in his right hand, Anthony Orchard QC, his barrister pointedly asked him: "Did you set the fire?"

Philpott replied: "No,"

Mr Orchard said: "Are you connected with starting the fire in any way?"

Philpott answered: "No."

Mr Orchard asked: "Do you know who did?"

Philpott replied: "No."

Mr Orchard asked: "Do you have your suspicions as to who did?"

Philpott replied: "I do."

Philpott went on to tell the court how he and Mairead met at the Osmaston Park Hotel in October 2000 when he asked her if she would like to play darts. The court was told that within a short space of time they were living together at 18 Victory Road.

Eventually the couple and their six children were joined by Ms Willis, who had four children, three fathered by Philpott, and went on to have a fourth with him.

Mr Orchard said to Philpott: "We know that you have a very large extended family. Do you think this is something that people accept?"

Philpott said: "Definitely not."

Mr Orchard said: "How did your family take it that you were living with 11 children in a house with two women?"

Philpott said: "They were not very happy about it at first but they accepted it."

Mr Orchard asked: "What was Mairead like as a mother?"

Philpott started crying in the dock before replying: "The best – she was the sole carer."

Philpott went on to explain how he met Ms Willis shortly before Christmas in 2000 and she moved into 18 Victory Road five years later.

Mr Orchard asked what was his wife's view about them all living together.

Philpott said: "Mairead said she was not bothered about it. They were like sisters, they were inseparable."

Mr Orchard asked Philpott about his appearances on TV on the Jeremy Kyle Show and a reality TV show he starred in with MP Ann Widdecombe.

Philpott said: "I am totally ashamed of both of them. We went on them to say we needed a bigger house."

Mr Orchard asked: "Why do you regret going on them?"

Philpott replied: "Because of what people called us. They called me and my children 'the scum of the earth'.

"I got death threats, it was all over Facebook. Friends, proper friends, stuck by us, they were not very happy about what people were saying about the children.

"I come across as powerful, a happy-go-lucky guy who does not care what people think about me."

Mr Orchard then moved on to ask about the events leading up to Ms Willis walking out on Philpott and Mairead with her five children on February 11 last year, three months before the fire.

Philpott said; "Lisa became controlling, she pushed my dear wife away from me.

"She looked after the children for 30 minutes in the evening and at school holidays, but I am not going to say she was a bad mother because she was not.

"But my wife was the sole carer of the children."

Events then turned to February 11, the day Ms Willis left the house with her five children and never returned.

Philpott said: "I had no idea whatsoever that Lisa was going to leave. At that particular time I thought me and Lisa had this bond, we were inseparable. My wife was concerned about it. I treated her like a queen.

"The night before, I had slept with Lisa in the caravan (on the driveway of 18 Victory Road) while my wife was in the house. I got up around 12pm and walked into the house. My wife said 'Lisa has gone swimming with the kids'. I thought she meant all the kids but Mairead said 'no, just her kids'.

"It was unusual."

The court was told that Ms Willis had taken the children to her sister Amanda Cousins' home in Litton Drive, Spondon, and that there had been some text message conversations between the two households.

On March 10 last year, two months before the fire, the court was told how there was an altercation in Litton Drive when Philpott and his wife drove there concerned that Ms Willis had moved to Nottingham with Amanda and Ian Cousins.

This turned out not to be the case and Philpott said one of the children he has with Ms Willis saw him in the street and ran towards him.

Philpott said the boy "came running up to me and threw himself at me".

"I will tell you this. I have held a lot of children but none of them have ever thrown their arms around me as much as this before.

"He was saying 'daddy, daddy, I want my dad'.

"My children are the most important thing in my life to me and I was not being allowed to see them."

Philpott said Mr and Mrs Cousins then came out in to the street to tell him to leave as he was not supposed to be seeing the children and they ended up threatening him.

He said: "They were calling me a paedophile, a woman beater. Amanda said to my wife 'you are going to wish those tablets had killed you by the time I have finished with you'.

"I just sat there and took it. I have never seen Mairead so hysterical, so upset in my whole life as what she was on that day.

"She was shaking, crying.

"Ian was trying to be the big hard man, enticing me to go up and hit him, but I would not.

"Amanda is a vindictive cow, that's not my view, that is quite a lot of people's view and Ian was infatuated with Lisa."

Mr Orchard then asked Philpott about the effect Ms Willis walking out of 18 Victory Road had on the six children who were still at the house and who died in the fire.

Philpott said: "Because they knew how upset I was, my children were the same, especially Jade Louise, because she was the only girl left.

"It really hurt her, it crippled her. It was not the same, it was horrible."

Philpott said that on May 1, Miss Willis called him and during a seven-second phone call said: "If you don't leave me and my family alone, I'm going to kill you."

He said he hung up and called the police.

Philpott was also asked by Mr Orchard about a trip to a darts event in Leicester, where he had driven a group of people in a minibus on April 6. He said that during the journey he received a call from his wife saying she had got "another anonymous phone call".

He told the jury: "We had numerous phone calls from people who we don't know, the number was withheld."

He continued: "Someone asked why don't I inform the police? I said we did but the police don't seem to be taking the matter seriously."

Mr Orchard said it had been suggested that he had said during the journey something about fire or burning.

Philpott responded: "I never mentioned fire, petrol, burning or anything to anyone."

*THE PHILPOTT TRIAL: Visit our Philpott trial channel here for all related stories in the fire death case.