Mick Philpott was loving father, lawyer tells court in mitigation

Story originally appeared on the Guardian.

Defence says there is no evidence children were harmed deliberately as judge prepares for sentencing, now adjourned to Thursday

The sentencing of Mick and Mairead Philpott, who killed their six children in a house fire, has been adjourned until Thursday.

Mrs Justice Thirlwall, who heard mitgation from lawyers acting for the couple, said sentencing would take place at 10.30am at Nottingham crown court.

The court was told on Wednesday that Philpott was a loving father despite a history of violence towards women.

Mick and Mairead Philpott, together with Paul Mosley were found guilty on Tuesday of the manslaughter of six children as they slept in a house in Derby.

The court heard there had been violence in all of Philpott's relationships, which the judge, Mrs Justice Thirlwall, said troubled her: "There has been violence in every single relationship, has there not?"

In mitigation Philpott's barrister Anthony Orchard QC said he was a very good father who did not mean to harm his children.

Orchard said the plan to set the fire had gone "disastrously wrong" because it spread too quickly.

The Philpott home was set ablaze in a conspiracy involving the parents in May last year. Mick Philpott wanted to frame a former lover, Lisa Willis, for the arson attack as revenge for her leaving him.

Orchard asked for the minimum term possible for Philpott. Orchard said: "Despite Mr Philpott's faults he was a very good father and loved those children. All the witnesses, even Lisa Willis, agree on this. There is no evidence at any stage that he deliberately harmed any of them."

Orchard continued: "He is, as is Mairead, a parent who lost six children. He has never been able to grieve or even to bury them.

"His behaviour when he was with the doctors was consistent with extreme grief when he was at the hospital."

Orchard said Philpott, 56, would have to live with the jury's verdicts, and the fact that they said he had killed his children.

"He will have to live with the hatred and hostility of the press and the public for the rest of his life," he added.

The crown outlined Philpott's past offences, which the judge said she would take into account in deciding how long the sentences should be.

Philpott has a previous conviction in 1978 for attempting to kill a woman who wanted to leave him, whom he stabbed a dozen times.

Philpott, aged 21 at the time of the attack, was convicted of the attempted murder of Kim Hill and of grievous bodily harm to her mother in December 1978. He was sentenced to seven years, with the judge then warning that he was a dangerous man.

After the attack Hill had to be revived twice and the court heard on Wednesday that she still lived with the effects of the attack.

Before the murder attempt Philpott had attacked her, breaking her fingers. When Hill wanted to leave him, he became so enraged he decided to kill her so that no other man could have her.

Orchard said Philpott's conviction for attempted murder was a "long time ago" and there was no evidence of anything like that being repeated.

Nottingham crown court was told that in 1991 Philpott headbutted someone while working and received a conditional discharge for actual bodily harm. He was also cautioned for attacking his wife after slapping her in the face and dragging her out of the house.

In 2011 he was involved in a road rage incident to which he pleaded guilty.

Shaun Smith QC, for Mairead Philpott, said she would "forever be known as a child killer", and accepted she faced punishment.

He said her real sentence would be the loss of her children and that she had been dominated by her husband during their 12-year relationship.

Smith told the judge: "There was only one dominant person in that relationship."

He added: "She would do whatever he said, whatever he wanted," and described her attempts to keep her husband's affections as "utter folly".

But the children led happy lives despite living for a time with their mother, father and their father's girlfriend.

Smith said there was no evidence "any of these children were in any sort of danger or peril prior to that night [of the fire] whatsoever."

He said: "They were well looked-after. They were well nourished. They were happy children."

Smith said: "There were absolutely no problems as far as these children were concerned [with the living arrangements]; no suggestion they were out on the street causing trouble."

Smith told the judge: "The entirety of the evidence in this case is that Mairead Philpott was an extremely good mother to all 11 children. No one, we respectfully submit, can dispute the grief that she feels. Nobody can even understand it. It's palpable. It has been visible."

During the sentencing and mitigation the Philpotts were in the dock of the court.

Philpott wore a grey suit, pink tie and medallion. His wife wore a black cardigan.

Manslaughter carries a maximum term of life imprisonment.