This one does more than re-affirm my low opinion - it drives it to a new low. In negative numbers.
Mick Philpott planned to frame ex-girlfriend for fire, court told
A jury has heard that a fire that killed six children was started deliberately by their father in a bid to frame his former lover
<snip>Vikram Dodd/The Guardian wrote: A house fire that killed six children was started deliberately by their father as part of a plot to frame his ex-girlfriend, a jury has heard.
Mick Philpott was facing a custody battle with his former lover, Lisa Willis, who had ended their relationship months earlier. A jury at Nottingham crown court heard that Philpott began to "set up" Willis by complaining to police that she was threatening him, his wife and the children.
Philpott, 56, his wife Mairead, 31, and Paul Mosley, 46, all denied six separate counts of manslaughter in relation to the deaths.
Mick and Mairead Philpott's children – Jade, 10, and her brothers Duwayne, 13, John, nine, Jack, eight, Jesse, six, and Jayden, five – died in the fire, on 11 May last year in the semi-detached house in Allenton, Derby, where the couple lived.
Willis, 28, had also lived at the property* but left in February 2012 after becoming fed up with the living arrangements. {emphasis added}
<snip>A total of 11 children lived in the house. Six were the offspring of Mick and Mairead Philpott, while four were his children with Willis. Another child was Willis's, who she had had with another man.
Latham said the fire was started in the early hours of the morning on the day Willis and Philpott were due in court to discuss the residency of the children.
<complete story>Philpott first met Willis when she was 17, and she moved into the house soon afterwards. While Willis and her children were living at the three-bedroom council house in Victory Road, most of the children normally slept upstairs, while Mairead Philpott slept in either the living room or the conservatory.
Her husband slept in a caravan outside with Willis.
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* Apparently for like eleven years...
