The parents of six children who
died following a house fire in Derby have been convicted of their manslaughter,
along with their friend.
Mick and Mairead Philpott denied
manslaughter but were found guilty at Nottingham Crown Court after less than
eight hours of deliberation by the jury. Paul Mosley was also found guilty after denying manslaughter.
Mick Philpot and Paul Mosley were found guilty unanimously, while Mairead
Philpot was found guilty by a majority verdict.
Six children aged 13, 10, 9, 8, 6
and 5 died in a house fire on 11 May 2012.
The prosecution had alleged that
Mr Philpott hatched a plan to start a fire with petrol to frame his former
mistress, Lisa Willis, so as to gain an advantage in a custody battle over her
five children. Ms Willis and her children had previously lived with Mr and Mrs
Philpott and their six children and had recently left, taking her five children
with her. Mr Philpott was concerned his previous convictions would harm his
chances of securing custody and therefore intended to frame Ms Willis for the
fire to improve his chances.
As part of the plan, Mr Mosley
would break down the back door and rescue the children. However, as Mr Philpot
lit the fire after pouring petrol through the letter box the downstairs
exploded and the children, who were upstairs sleeping, could not be reached.
They all died from smoke inhalation.
The Philpotts were arrested after
their hotel room was bugged by police following the fire. Philpott was recorded
as telling his wife to ‘stick to her story’. Forensics showed that all three
individuals had the same petrol as used in the fire on their clothes.
Before leaving the dock, Mr
Philpott was heard to say ‘it’s not over yet’. The judge, Mrs Justice
Thirlwall, said the defendants would be sentenced on Wednesday.
The Law on Manslaughter and ‘Joint Enterprise’
The type of manslaughter that the
defendants were charged with in this case is known as ‘unlawful act’ or ‘constructive’
manslaughter. To secure a conviction for this offence the prosecution must
prove, beyond reasonable doubt, the following elements:
- that there was a unlawful act (eg
an arson type offence);
- which was dangerous (defined in
law as an act which reasonable people would recognise may cause some harm to
another); and
- that it caused another's death.
There is no need to prove any intention
to kill or cause serious harm. It is enough that a dangerous and unlawful act
causes death.
In this case it was not alleged
that each of the defendants was responsible for each of the above elements.
Instead it was argued that they acted as part of a ‘joint enterprise’. Under this
law a number of individuals may be guilty of the same offence if they intentionally
assist the main offender and ‘contemplate’ the carrying out of the relevant
crime. So in this case it was alleged Mrs Philpott and Mr Mosley intentionally assisted
Mr Philpott and contemplated an arson type offence would be committed. Because deaths
resulted from this they were each guilty of manslaughter as well as Mr
Philpott, who actually started the fire.