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He called himself a super dad, a man raising nine children under one roof. But behind the headlines, behind the TV interviews was a man obsessed with control, attention and revenge. When a tragic house fire took the lives of six of his own children, the world watched in horror and disbelief as the truth slowly unraveled. In this episode, we dive into the chilling story of Michael Philpot, the father who used tragedy for gain and paid the ultimate price. Hi, my beautiful people. If you're not watching the video version of this, I'm trying to hold the mic instead of setting it on its little stand. I probably look really uncomfortable, but I just want to clarify. I'm not uncomfortable. I'm so contra. I love sitting here with you guys. I'm just trying to keep it as still as possible so that it doesn't sound a little bit wonky. We're improving, okay? This is a work in progress. We're trying to improve and make this podcast as good as it can be. We'll see what this audio sounds like. Finger cross. It sounds good because if it doesn't, don't know what's gonna happen there. I do have to give a massive warning for this video. It does involve children. If you think that listening to this is going to harm your mental health in any way, please skip this episode and I will see you in my next one. I think I've previously said this in an episode before, but I know for sure I've said it on TikTok. I would hate nothing more than for one of my videos to harm you mentally. So if you happen to be new here, when I say take care of yourselves, skip this video if you think it's gonna hurt you. I mean it. Please, please take care of yourselves. Your mental health is priority. Always has been, always will be. Love you, Michael. Oh, Michael, the man that you are. I think I hate you. Michael, also known as Mick Philpott, was a father from Derby, England who became infamous for living off of government benefits while raising nine children with multiple women under one roof. But before I get this rush of adrenaline that is common for me to get when I talk about cases that infuriate me, let's take a step back and start at the beginning of the story. Mick Philpott, like I said, born and raised in England, he was only 19 years old when he would meet a girl that he would fall in love with, 15 year old Kim Hill. I presume that when they met, Meg really put his best foot forward. I mean, he needed to, right? If he wanted to make this girl his girlfriend. I think it's safe to assume that he probably presented himself as a very polite, caring man to not only try to win her over, but to try and win her family over as well. Because of the age difference, because Kim was a child, he probably had to tread extra carefully to get in the good books with her family. But it worked. Kim fell absolutely head over heels for this guy, and her family could see how happy she was and how happy this guy was making her. So they quickly really grew to like make as well. But the thing about Mick that you'll learn throughout this video, he knows how to present himself to be viewed the way that he wants to be viewed. It almost feels like every single thing that he does is very calculated. But soon after that relationship began, his true colors started to show, and. And it didn't take long for him to go back to the person who he really is at his core, which is a horrible, horrible man. Throughout their relationship, Kim was still attending school while make was training with the Army. And he became very controlling, manipulative. He wanted to have control over Kim. He wanted to tell her what to do, what to wear, who to hang out with. At times. This usually happened on weekends. He would pretend to be training with the army, right? So he would pretend that he was out of town for the weekend, when in reality, he was in town. He was just hiding and lurking in the shadows, literally stalking his girlfriend to make sure that he knew exactly what she was up to every single second of every single day. Then it progressed to Mick giving Kim rules that she had to follow. He would give her a curfew, dictating her every move. And if Kim didn't follow his rules, make would tell her that she would pay for acting out. He would threaten her with violence. And a lot of the times, sadly, he would go through with his threats. And he would hurt her massively. Now, not only emotionally, but also physically. And with Mick, there was no holding back. Never. I don't think he was capable of feeling remorse is what it feels like to me, honestly. On one occasion, Kim broke one of Mick's rules. The rule was that every outfit that she wore had to be seen and approved of by Mick, which, ew, kind of a side comment. I'm not even being funny. I think I'm emotionally exhausted just from researching this case. And if there was something that Mick Philpott knew how to do, it was to drain the life of every single girl that he brought into his life. I'm not kidding. Anyway, one time, Kim put on this cute little Dress that she had been so excited to wear. But when Mick saw it, he was furious. He thought the dress was inappropriate, way too short. And it was his opinion that Kim should not be allowed to wear that out. So what did he do, you may ask? Well, Mick grabbed a crossbow. He grabbed it, turned to his girlfriend, and shot her in the groin. Yeah, like he was mental. And I'm not using that term lightly. And you have to keep in mind, while we're talking about this, Kim was 15 years old. This was her first relationship ever. She would subconsciously always make excuses for Mick. She would convince herself that the way that Mick was acting was the way a boyfriend should act. She didn't know any better. This was her first boyfriend in her whole entire life. But of course it wasn't. It was pitiful the way that he treated her. Mick abused her until she was the shell of a woman she once she was stripped of absolutely everything that made her her and left with nothing but constant bruises, injuries, broken bones, and scars caused by the man who claimed to love her. This poor girl and all the other ones we're going to talk about. I feel so bad for them because if that is what your first representation of love is like, that is trauma. It's traumatizing, and it's something that I'm sure takes years to heal from. Kim Hill put up with everything this man did to her and put her through until she was 17 years old. She was in that nightmare of a relationship for two years, until one day, enough was enough. She was so used to forgiving him time and time again. And it took two years for her to realize that this relationship was quite literally breaking her. She looked in the mirror and didn't even recognize the person that was looking back at her anymore. But she knew that she couldn't and didn't want to live that way forever. So one day in the summer of 1978, Kim decided it was now or never. She was going to wait until Meg was gone and out of the house. She was going to pack up all of her belongings, leave a note for him, telling him that she has had enough, she was leaving, and that she planned to leave and never come back. And that's exactly what she did. But as soon as Mick returned and found that letter and read it, he saw Rudd. He had had control over Kim for the last two years, and he was not about to let her go in peace. Mick Philpot was around 21 years old at the time, and when Kim left him, he made it his life's mission. To make her pay for walking out on him. Mick stalked her as he always had. But this time, it was while he was planning his attack on her. He knew that she had moved back in with her parents. So he camped out by their house and just watched in the shadows, in the dark. Every single time that I talk about someone lurking in the shadows, I don't know why. It's terrifying to me. It's so scary because. Why are you doing that? You're so creepy. You're not only weird and disgusting, now you're being so creepy. But Mick was. He was weird and gross and creepy. And he sat there in the dark, watching their house, trying to figure out their routine. Who was home, who left for work, what time they came back. He watched and memorized their every move to try and figure out when the best time would be for him to attack. And then, In July of 1978, he put his plan into action. It wasn't a well thought out plan by any means. I would even say that it was the opposite. It was the most ridiculous, stupid plan. But it was something that he wanted to do while he was running on adrenaline and anger. That night, Kim's father left for work. He was working a night shift. And when Mick knew that the only people in the house were Kim and her mother, he broke in. As we know, he had been in the dark outside, watching from the bushes. But then he made his way inside, and he slowly started to make his way to Kim's bedroom. In hand, Mick was holding a weapon. He walked into the room. Kim was there lying in bed, peacefully sleeping. He took the knife and started attacking her over and over again, repeatedly, fueled with pure rage. That night, he stabbed Kim 27 times. When Kim's mom woke up because she heard the commotion, she heard her daughter screaming for help. Harrowing screams. She woke up, of course, in a state of panic and ran into her bedroom to try and help her and see what was going on. But Mick just turned to her and stabbed her, too. In the chest, on her back, a total of 11 times. After brutally attacking two of his victims, Mick needed a breather. He decided to just step out, bloody weapons still in his hand. But he walked out of that room, Stepped out to get a little fresh air, I guess. But what he didn't know, and for some reason didn't think about or consider, was that neighbors had now woken up because of the screams that came from Kim and her mother. And neighbors had called the police. Not long after Meg stepped out of that bedroom, he was met with officers and paramedics busting through the front door of the house. And he looked at them in the eye and started laughing. He was laughing. He looked at the officer and said, she's a goner. I've done a good job on her. End quote. What? I'm sorry, psychopath, what do you mean? Both Kim and her mother were rushed to the hospital. Kim had suffered collapsed lungs and a punctured liver, bladder, bowels, and kidney. Her injuries were so bad that she had to be resuscitated twice when they were trying to save her. But luckily, they were able to save her, and Kim Hill lived through that traumatizing attack. Kim's mother, Shirley, also had to undergo emergency surgery, but she also, thankfully survived. Years after the attack, Shirley, the mother, was sadly diagnosed with liver cancer, and she lost her battle to cancer. All of her loved ones, including Kim, always blamed Meg for Shirley's death because of the damage that he had done to her liver with that knife. Mick Philpott was charged with the attempted murder of both Kim and her mother. He was convicted and sentenced to seven years in prison. And once he got to prison, he was literally living in Deluland. Mick, in prison would write letters to Kim, handwritten letters, about how he couldn't wait to get out so the two of them could, quote, start fresh and rekindle their relationship and get married, literally. So Delulu, I don't know what planet he was living in, but it's not our planet. He's living somewhere super far away, and he's never coming back down to earth. That is how idiotic and twisted this man was. Because I think that when he was writing the letters about them starting fresh, getting married, living there, happily ever after, I think that he genuinely, genuinely believed that Kim was gonna be like, yeah, can't wait. Waiting for you out here. Hope all is well. Love you. Like, he was literally mentally unstable. He wasn't. Well, I. I don't know what went wrong in his childhood, but something did. Mick Philpot was released after only serving three years and two months in prison. And he would go on to commit some of the most heinous acts I've ever read about. Shortly after getting out of prison, Mick met a woman called Pamela Lomax. They met at a local pub and began a relationship not long after that. Relations the last four years. At the time, of course, Pamela had absolutely no idea that she was stepping into the orbit of a deeply dangerous man. She was only a teenager when they met. And at first, Mick was charming, because, of course, he was. He made her feel wanted. And he put effort into making sure that she felt that way. He had that smooth, manipulative charisma that abusive men often have and use to reel people in. And in 1986, the couple got married. They got married and had three children together. This is what Mick wanted. He wanted to got Pamela into a horrific, abusive relationship. And he wanted to do that by marrying her and creating a family together. So that if Pamela one day did want to leave him, it would make it that much harder because now they're one legally bonded together and now they literally have three children. So for Pamela, it wouldn't be as simple as just walking out on him, walking out on the relationship. Not that that in itself would be simple, because leaving that kind of relationship never is, but it gave make a feeling of satisfaction knowing that the two of them were tied together by marriage and with three children. He liked the feeling that he had control over her and he would use the kids to hold that over her head and to try and get her to do whatever it was that he was demanding from her. Pamela Lomax did want to leave that relationship with Meg because it was awful and again, it was draining her of the person who she was. She recalled being punched, slapped, kicked and humiliated routinely. Sometimes mixed violent rages would cause him to lash out with objects and he would use a belt, a shoe, a stick, anything that he could grab pretty much and use to hurt Pamela. He did. And the emotional abuse was just as brutal. If he didn't hold back physically, what makes you think that he would hold back emotionally? He didn't. He called her names on the daily, he berated her appearance. He made her feel so small and told her that she was worthless without him. But the thing is that Pamela was aware of what happened the last time a girl tried to walk out on Meg. And she knew far too well that if he was capable of doing that to Kim, he would not hesitate to do worse to her. Pamela was wrapped up in this tangled toxic mess with Meg for 10 years, praying and hoping that one day Meg would want to leave her. Every single night she prayed and hoped and waited for the day that he would get bored and leave. And after 10 years of being together, he finally did. Now 38 year old Mick Philpop met a 14 year old girl, Heather Kehoe. He met her at a lake where kids her age would often hang out. Mick frequently visited that lake to go fish. And when he met her, he devoted her all of his attention and energy into grooming her. But I guess that Heather did Like him at one point. And it pains me to say that Meg Philpott was good at anything, but the fact of the matter is that he was really good at manipulating people. Unfortunately, and I can imagine that he only saw this as an easier thing to do considering this girl was 14 years old, she was a child. Mick groomed her into sleeping with him, she actually lost her virginity to Mick, and sooner than later their relationship, quote unquote relationship, became volatile and sexual. I cannot confirm or deny, but a couple of articles about this case point out that at 16 years old, Heather ran away from her house and she moved in with Mick. We don't know for sure if she ran away or if she just won because she wanted to. But we do know that Mick left Pamela and their children for Heather and they moved in together. But was that the end of Mick and Pamela? Of course not. Just because Mick was Now with a 14 year old new girlfriend, it did not mean that he was going to give up on ruining Pamela's life because that's what he enjoyed to do, ruining ruining people's lives. Instead, now that he had Heather, he was only going to reel her in and use her to help him with his plan of kidnapping his and Pamela's children. And he did try and steal those children away from their mom, but luckily he failed. In the time that Heather and Mick were together, Heather fell pregnant and had a baby boy. Twice they had two boys together, Mick's now fourth and fifth child. And their relationship was disturbingly similar to the relationships that he's had in the past. Mick controlled everything. I don't think he knew how to function if he didn't feel like he had control of the situation at all times. He controlled what Heather wore, who she spoke to, what she did, and even at times, what time she could go to sleep. If she disobeyed or questioned him, he would turn violent. She later revealed that he would drag her by her hair, slam her head against walls, punch her in the face, spit on her, call her degrading names. Anything bad and toxic you can think of make Philpot dead. On one occasion when Heather was pregnant, Mick threw a chair at her stomach during a fit of his rage. Another time, when she tried to leave him, he knelt on his chest to stop her from breathing. Mick's fits of rage were consistent. This was abuse that only escalated day by day. And it seems like it only escalated more and more the older that he got as well. Heather had the unfortunate luck of being in Mick's life for six long years. But One day she managed to escape. She ran away from the house and later had to request a protection order to get her kids out of Mick's custody and into hers. But luckily, and it makes me so happy to say this, she was able to. She escaped. And as time passed, she, along with her children, slowly but surely got out of the nightmare that was being involved with Mick. They moved out, they got another house, and once and for all, eventually they were free of Mick Philpott. Now, was this because Mick let them be free? No. But his attention was distracted elsewhere. Now, Mick was around 44 years old in the year 2000 when he met met 19 year old Mary Duffy. She was a single mother of one, also born and raised in England. She was born into an Irish family and she had recently escaped a toxic, unstable relationship of her own. At this point in her life, Mary was young, for starters, very young. She was less than half of Mick's age and she was very, very vulnerable. And their relationship began, like many others, like many of his others, I should say, with manipulation disguised as charm. At first, Meg played the role of a protective, doting older man. He told Mary that he would take care of her and her son and promised to care and love for her. And in her eyes, as a mother looking for stability and affection, Mick seemed like everything that she had ever wanted and everything that she had been looking for. But what she didn't know was that Meg Philpott had a pattern and soon it showed. From the beginning, their relationship had a very clear imbalance of power because of the age difference, but also because of the type of person that Mick was. Mick was demanding. He wanted to have control and he wanted Mayrid to be his submissive. Mick called the shots in their relationship and May Read complied. She reportedly looked up to him at one point in the relationship, maybe not when she found out what he was really like, but maybe at first she did admire him. Ew. But she did. She admired the confidence, the weird confidence that he had about him. And she saw him as a person that she could trust. But in reality, everything that Mick did, he did with purpose. The purpose being to control her completely, just like he had done with every previous relationship office. He told her what to wear, he monitored her every move, where she went, who she was with, and dictated her role in the home after they moved in together. Mick Philpot did not look at this girl as a human being. When he saw her, he looked at her as nothing more than a piece of trash. To him, she was just part of this carefully crafted System where Mick's rules were at the center of everything. It was always about him. Everyone's lives revolved around his. I would believe you if he told me that he was physically incapable of caring about anyone other than himself. In 2001, while he was still dating May Reid, Mick met 16 year old single mother by the name of Lisa Willis. Lisa would become his mistress. Quick side comment. Also, by the way, I always feel like I say that word wrong. Like, am I pronouncing that incorrectly? Mistress. Mistress. She was his mistress. I feel like I say that word wrong. At the time, Lisa was a single mother of one. She was living in care and really had no stable support system. She was vulnerable and possibly desperate. And when she met Mick, he presented himself as this guy, this person who could give her everything she had been looking for and in her eyes, everything that she needed. He could give her stability, a roof over her head and the love that she had been craving. And sadly, she fell for it right away. And by this point, Mick wasn't only being unfaithful to May Read, he was being unfaithful to her right in front of face. And it comes to no one's surprise that Mick didn't care about May Read. He didn't care about her, didn't care about the family. All he cared about was getting what he wanted. And what he wanted was Lisa's attention. But he also wanted May Read's attention too. So he wanted to have his cake and eat it too. It's unbelievable. And because he cared so little about May Read, let alone about disrespecting her, he was open about his affair. He told her all about Lisa, said that he wanted Lisa to become a part of both of their lives. And somehow, some way, I can't even imagine it or picture how that conversation went, but he was able to convince and manipulate May Read into letting Lisa move into their house so they could all be one big happy family. Yes, you did hear that, right. Mick invited his new girlfriend, Lisa to move in with his current girlfriend, the mother of his children, the children, Lisa's child and himself. And of course, instead of presenting this idea as chaotic or dysfunctional, which is what it was, Mick framed it like it was the best idea he's ever had. He told both of the girls, Lisa and Mary, that it would be great, it would be good for Lisa because she could join in and become part of a family and she would have somewhere to live. And he told Mary that it would be great for her because now she would have someone to help her clean around the house, take care of the children. He said Lisa could become a co mother of sorts, a partner for her and for him, I guess in a larger than life family. When describing their whack living situation, mix said, quote, we're one big happy family. We share everything. There's love, structure, and everyone has a role, end quote. So that's what happened. Lisa moved in. Now the house they were living in was packed in full. But of course, Mick had new rules set up new rules for everyone to know what they're supposed to be doing in that house, in their crowded house on Victory Road. And he set up the home to operate around said rules. First of all, make had a separate bedroom of his own apart from the women. His bedroom, quote unquote, was actually a van that he had parked in the driveway. But that's where where he slept. And Lisa and May Read were expected to rotate nights sleeping with him in his bedroom. So on Monday, Lisa would sleep with him in his bed. On Tuesday, May Read had to sleep with him and they would switch nights every other night. This was their routine. Mick also later on forced the two women to get jobs because he is the laziest person in the whole entire world and he did not want to lift a finger. Why would he have to if he has two women that he could just boss around? He forced them to get jobs and then became the sole person who handled the money along with the discipline. So basically, basically he handled every decision in that house. Lisa and May Read, who, please, I beg, do not forget. They were both teenagers at the time. Felt like they had little choice but to adapt to this twisted dynamic. It was absurd. It's no way to live. It's insanity. They were all living as a family, when in reality, Mick obviously had no respect towards anyone in there. Not a single person did he respect inside the house. But because their lifestyle was so bizarre, people in town started talking about it. There were whispers about the dysfunction going on inside the house on Victory Road. And suddenly Meg was doing TV interviews, talking all about his living situation, how he had two girlfriends, how strange it was to others, but how perfect and ideal it was for him. The name Mick Philpott became known for his crazy way of living. In 2003, Meg decided that he wanted to marry May Reid and they got married. That's what they did. And guess what? Lisa, the second girlfriend, she was a bridesmaid in the wedding. And that is not even the most shocking thing. Both of them, the bridesmaid and the bride, the two Girlfriends of Make were pregnant at the time of the wedding with Make's children. So now he has one pregnant wife, one pregnant girlfriend, two separate women who each continue to agree to share make with one another, raising children under the same roof in the chaotic but highly controlled environment. May Read gives birth, she gets pregnant again right after. Lisa gives birth, she gets pregnant again right after. And they kept getting pregnant with their shared boyfriend, husband, man, child in that house. Mick and May Reid went on to have four children and Lisa and Mick had three, in addition to the kid that she already had from a previous relationship, who's also living in that house. And Mick absolutely loved this. This was the situation of his dreams. Do you want to know why? Because he received assistant from the government. The house they lived in was provided by the government to help them. Them, they were living in a council house, receiving housing benefits, child benefits, income support and more. And the children were key to this whole thing because the more kids they had, the more the government would give them. So Mick didn't keep producing children because he wanted another child or because he cared or loved them. He only cared about the money. His life, the way that he lived his life was deliberately engineered to keep the women dependent, the children coming and the government paying. At the height of it all, it's been reported that Mick and his household were receiving an estimated 60,000 pounds a year in benefits. Which is crazy. What do you mean? And the disgusting part about it, if it could get any worse, is that Mick really, to his core, felt entitled to every single penny that he got. He didn't feel lucky or blessed or he didn't appreciate it. He really felt like it was his right, right to get this money from the government. And he wasn't discreet about it either. He had no issues flaunting around his quote unquote, success in living off the system. And it was clear with anyone with eyes that Mick exerted power over the women and the children in his home. He continued to speak about this to reporters, newspapers and people of the press because the public was so intrigued at just how weird of a guy this was and how strange the life he was living was. Cause so people of the public were interested, but not because of anything good. They were just looking at him like, this is a crazy man living a crazy life. We want to know why he's so messed up and weird. Mick appeared on the Jeremy Kyle show and in tabloid headlines as the poster child for welfare abuse. In one of his infamous appearances, I think it may have been on tv, he declared that he deserved a larger house paid for by the state because he had so many children, he declared, but I would say more so demanded that he get a bigger house. And the public that heard about this was furious because, what do you mean? You're demanding things that you think you're entitled to. Sooner than later, Mick Philpott was getting slammed in the newspapers. People were calling him a scrounger, shameless, lazy, and a disgrace. And his home life with two women and a million kids under one roof was portrayed as calculated, in quiet, quite frankly, disturbing. The backlash that he received was there. It was present and it was intense, but rightfully so. He was mocked, judge analyzed, and he was receiving a lot of hate. But he loved it. He loved the attention. He thrived off of it. Life went on this way for five long years. And then Lisa hit her breaking point. By early 2012, Lisa Willis had lived in Mick Philpott's household for nearly a decade. She was tired of being this married man, man's side girl, essentially. And she was so emotionally drained, emotionally exhausted after living under such tight control with little freedom for so many years. She became increasingly more and more, day by day, uncomfortable and degraded by the toxic environment. And she knew that enough was enough. She had to get out of there. Lisa began contemplating the idea of leaving, not only just for herself, but for the sake of her five young children. She was scared for the future, and she knew that staying any longer would cost them. She wanted to be able to raise her kids on her own, in a more stable, peaceful house, free from all the conflict, the pressure and the surveillance that came from Mick. But Lisa also knew that leaving wouldn't be easy. Mick had a temper and a reputation for manipulation. If she was going to do this, she needed to think it through. She needed a plan. Her plan was that she was going to fake a pool date with her kids and only her kids. Kids at the local swimming pool. They would walk out and leave under the impression that they would return after the pool day, but they were not going to. Lisa walked out of that door with her children and never came back. She escaped, thankfully. Mick Philpott was absolutely outraged when he realized that Lisa and her kids were gone. He was furious about what happened. And what happened was that he lost control. He lost control of the children, of Lisa, of the entire household dynamic. And half of the reason as to why he was getting all those benefits that he had relied on were now gone. Half of the children were no longer. He saw red. He reached out to Lisa. He threatened her. He acted Like a child throwing a temper tantrum. But Lisa leaving was likely what saved her and her children's lives. Tragically, just a few months later, Mick would carry out the deadly house fire plot that ended the lives of six of his other children. And it was a crime that shocked the nation and exposed the dark reality behind his already poor public image. On May 11, 2012, around 3:30 in the morning, emergency services received a call. May Read was on the other side of the phone. She called and sounded distraught. She was screaming into the phone. 18 Victory Road. My house is on fire. My kids are in bed. They're upstairs in their bedrooms. Oh my God, please. We've just been woken up by the alarm. They're smoking smoke everywhere. Oh my God, please. Megan Mayrid had managed to walk out of the house and into the backyard. But six kids were still in there. They were trapped. And every second that passed it seemed like the fire just grew bigger and bigger and bigger until the entire thing was engulfed in flames. It was hectic, it was pure chaos as I'm sure you can imagine. Emergency services were rushing to get to the scene. Neighbors were waking up, it was so loud and so terrible. But nobody could get the kids from inside the house house. And by the time they were able to get through the fire and get to those kids, it was too late. Five children who had been asleep still tucked in their bed lost their lives at the scene. 10 year old Jade, 9 year old John, 7 year old Jack, 6 year old Jesse and 5 year old Jaden, married son from her previous relationship. 13 year old Dwayne was rushed to Birmingham Children's Hospital, but he sadly passed away two days later. The cause of death for all of them was smoke inhalation. What a heartbreaking, absolutely awful tragedy. Six children gone just like that. Five of those who laid on the yard of that house waiting for their bodies to be taken to the morgue. It was absolutely devastating. However, from the start, authorities minds were ringing with alarm bells when they discovered that firefighters thought they were almost certain that the cause of the fire was deliberately done by someone on purpose, that this was was arson. They had reason to believe that somebody had set that house on fire. But why would someone do that? Well, presumably to end the lives of those six kids, meaning that if this was arson, it would turn into a murder investigation. But they weren't there quite yet. In the first couple of days following the fire, Megan Mary were seen as publicly devastated parents. Mick gave emotional media interviews, crying and holding hands with May Reid, pleading for help catching whoever was Responsible, but two detectives. However, there was something off, something felt off about Mick, and there was forensic evidence that would slowly but surely start to be uncovered that would only feed their suspicions of him. Fire investigators and forensic teams quickly began analyzing the remains of the house. Within 24 hours, they noticed key indicators that confirmed to them that that fire was started on purpose. They found two distinct ignition points near the front door, traces of petrol, so gasoline in and around the hallway. No signs of a forced entry. The doors had been locked from the inside. All of that combined pretty much completely ruled out common accidental causes like electrical faults or smoking related fires. So it was now confirmed that this was arson. And when they looked at Mick, they slowly but surely started to realize that he seemed way more focused on the media attention rather than being busy grieving his children. And he showed no interest in funeral arrangements or services for the children. The more and more police officers looked at Mick and the history of his relationships, the more it became clear that he had a very prominent history of control manipulation and abuse, especially towards the women in his life. Then they find out a really significant turning point that had just happened prior to the fire. They find out that his girlfriend, not his wife, but his girlfriend, had walked out on him and taken five of the children with her. And the way that Mick spoke about Lisa leaving him was very suspicious within itself because he referred to her as a crazy ex girlfriend, claiming that she would have reason to do this and she would have reason to want to harm him, Even saying at one point that Lisa starting the fire would make sense. Sense, because that would be her trying to get some sort of revenge on him. And at that point, officers, they don't know Lisa. They don't know anything about her, about the kids, about their dynamics. So what did they do? They went out and arrested Lisa and they took her children away from her. Thankfully, after they spoke to her and confirmed that she did in fact have a solid alibi, she was released and her children were given back to her. But now, because of the way that he was behaving, investigators theorized that Mick, maybe with the help of his wife or maybe not, could be the person that was behind all of this. They considered the possibility that he had set that fire on purpose, with intentions to frame Lisa, hoping that it would, one, make it look like she was out to get him and trying to harm him, two, win him full custody of her children, and three, to use it as his way of regaining control and gain him public sympathy. Because at this time, remember, the public, like, did know his name. And they did not have very nice things to say. But now they needed to prove it. And how exactly were they going to do that? Well, they were going to start by wiring the hotel room where Mick and Mayread were temporarily staying after the fire. And on one of those recordings, police caught Mick telling May Read to make sure that she sticks to her story. Hmm, that's weird. What story are we talking about? What exactly are we hiding here? Days later, Mick speaks to police officers and says that he thinks it's his opinion that it would be very beneficial if he did a press conference with himself and May Read. The purpose of that being to plead to the public to come forward with any information. Police are like, all right, sure, let's do it. And that press conference, I mean, the two of them put on an act. The press conference took place May 16th of 2012, just five days after the fatal fire at the Philpott home. It was supposed to be. It was meant to be a heartfelt public appeal for information, but instead it became one of the most confusing and chilling and unforgettable moments. In this case. In a room full of reporters and cameras, Mick and Mayride Felpot sat side by side, holding hands. Make appeared to be weeping. He was wiping his eyes with tissues, pausing dramatically between words and rocking back and forth forth. May Read sat quietly beside him, barely speaking. She hardly said anything, but Mick began by thanking emergency responders and neighbors. And then he made his public plea. Quote, someone out there knows who did this. Our babies have been taken away from us. We need your help. End quote. He broke into loud sobs, burying his face in his hands, saying how much he missed the children. But despite the tears, something felt off. Also, I don't really know if there were tears. They had tissues, but the tissues were as dry as can be. Something was off. There was several unsettling things. For one, makes emotions seemed performative almost. It didn't look like genuine grief. And I know everyone handles grief differently, but guys, it straight up just looked like he was acting and also like he might need acting classes. He talked about himself a lot. He talked mostly about himself, actually. He said things like, I can't believe this is happening to me instead of. Of focusing on the children. Not once throughout the entire thing did he mention the children by name. May Read honestly, just looked quite numb and sort of disconnected from the whole thing. But overall, the general public feel of that press conference was that the couple seemed way more focused on the media presence rather than the loss of their children. The contrast between their Behavior and how they were acting and the gravity of what had happened to them, them made the footage feel deeply uncomfortable and it quickly spread online and all over the news outlets. Mick Philpott was arrested on suspicion of murder of his six children on May 28, 2012. And after police tested the clothes that Mick and May Reid were wearing that night and found traces of gasoline on their clothing, the two of them were officially arrested with six counts of murder. During the interrogation, everything investigators had been suspicious of was confirmed. It had been Meg's plan all along to set that fire, to frame Lisa for it and to get custody of those five children. It was his idea and he approached May Read with this plan, but he promised her that no one would get hurt. He said the kids would be inside, but once the fire started, he would use a ladder. He would climb up to the second floor window through the outside, get inside and rescue off the kids out of that house. Because he wanted to make himself look like a hero and he wanted to make Lisa look like an absolute monster. He pitched it to May Read saying, look, this is perfect. This plan is great. Brand, no one is going to get hurt. We will get all of our kids back together again. Lisa will be out of the picture and the government will finally give us the bigger house that we have been wanting. And apparently May Read said, okay, let's do it. She was on board. She went along with it. The day of the fire, Mick Philpott went out, he bought a bunch of gasoline, and that night he invited one of his friends over. Why not Paul Moseley? Mick and Mayride fill Paul in on their plan. And Paul, unbelievably so, is also like, okay, cool, yeah, let's do it. Let's do it right now. Sorry, what do you mean? And then this is shocking. Shocking. All three of them get drunk and they start having a threesome. They start having a threesome downstairs while the children are sleeping upstairs and they're planning how to end their lives. Okay, I take that back. Their intentions were to rescue the children. But come on, you're downstairs having a threesome. Some having a little party of your own, getting ready to set your house on fire. Maybe just an idea. What you should be doing is looking at therapists near me because what I mean, I guess nothing should surprise me by this point, but that is literally mental. They did that until 3 in the morning. And by 3:40am the house was up in flames. Mick, Paul and May Read poured gasoline all over the house. And then Paul left, left with the Gasoline cans. He left to go and get rid of them. After Mick started the fire, Megan Mayri then walked out of the house into the backyard and watched as their house went up in flames with their children inside of it. After the neighbors were out, after the police was called, when it was a chaotic scene, only then did Mick try to grab the ladder to go and rescue the kids. But he couldn't. There was no way. What a stupid, stupid plan to begin with. And as we know, obviously the plan did not go as planned and six innocent lives were lost. Lost far too young and for no reason at all. Mick, May Read and Paul were now all facing manslaughter charges, not murder, because prosecutors believe that they didn't intend to kill. But they still did anyways. They all pled not guilty, all three of them. In court, Lisa Willis testified she was visibly shaken and very uncomfortable as she was telling the court that she left Meg because of his controlling behavior and because she didn't trust him. Multiple witnesses described how Meg treated the household like a dictatorship, saying that he ruled through fear, humiliation and rewards and mixed demeanor in court was literally embarrassing. He's a man, child. He was acting confident, cocky, dismissive, but still at his own trial, acting like he loved the attention that he was getting. Like this man legit looked happy to be there. He was often smirking or even laughing at times when evidence about the fire was shown. It's disgusting. But again, confirmation that he really, really had no remorse. In April of 2013, Mick Philpott was found guilty on all six counts of manslaughter. He was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum of 15 years. May Reid Philpot was also found guilty. She was sentenced to 17 years. And Paul Mosley was also found guilty, sentenced to 17 years as well. The judge, Justice Catherine Thirlwall, called make a disturbingly dangerous man and said the children died because of his callousness, selfishness and wicked, manipulative plan. Which I agree with Jade, John, Jack, Jesse, Jaden and Dwayne were laid to rest on May 29, 2012. The pictures of their funerals are heartbreaking. Anytime that I see small coffins, the fact that small coffins even exist and they're used so often, it shatters my heart into a million pieces. It's. They're so sad, so sad. I want to end this video by remembering the victims of this case case. Each one of them was full of promise, joy and innocence. They had so much life left to give and it was taken away from them far too soon. That is all I have for today's case. Thank you guys so much for tuning in to episode four. I was also maybe a little bit off topic. I was thinking about, you know, how on Instagram you can make group chats almost. I don't know exactly how it works, but I think you can make a group chat question mark with your followers on Instagram and then someone let me know, can people talk in said chat or am I. If I created the group chat, am I the only person able to talk? Is this making sense? I don't know, but I want to have somewhere where you guys can go to request cases specifically for the podcast. So let me think on that. I'll get back to you. I hope you guys are having the best day. If now go do something to make it the best day. Make somebody happy and I will see you in my next video. Massive kiss on the forehead to every single one of you. Actually, two kisses. I'm feeling crazy, crazy. Love you so much. Thank you guys so much for tuning in to episode four of I wish you were here. You can listen to this podcast anywhere you get. Your podcast video version is also available on YouTube.