Fire death bug tapes played to courtroom

A MAN accused of killing six of his children in a fire was heard saying “they have nothing on me” in covert recordings made in a prison van, a court has heard.

Mick and Mairead Philpott were bugged while they talked in the vehicle taking them to Derby Magistrates’ Court on 
31 May last year.

Nottingham Crown Court yesterday heard the couple were being monitored 24 hours a day by Serious and Organised Crime detectives.

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The couple, along with a third defendant, Paul Mosley, are
accused of the manslaughter of the Philpotts’ six children in the fire in Allenton, Derby, on 11 May last year. The couple was arrested on 
29 May.

In the van on 31 May, Philpott is heard asking his wife: “Are we sticking to the story?”

Mairead replies: “Hmm.”

Philpott whispers: “Good.”

He then asks her: “Do you know something? Have they got any evidence on you? They’ve got nothing on me, nothing.”

Mairead is heard to say: “There’s a fingerprint on the window.”

Philpott replies: “That’s it. A few discrepancies, that’s all it is. One with Shakey [Mosley] about [how] I said I was going out for a drive at night. I can’t remember saying that. Vicky said you were stoned and I said we didn’t smoke.”

He is then heard to say to his wife: “I love you so much. Look at me. We will walk free and prove our innocence, right? And then we’ll sort them out, promise you.”

Mairead replies: “Yeah, like I said, we can’t even bury the kids.”

During the ten-minute conversation, Philpott is also heard to say “they tried to blame me”.

His wife says: “I know.”

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Of the six children who died, Jade Philpott, ten, John, nine, Jack, eight, Jesse, six, and Jayden, five, perished in the fire at their home on Victory Road in ­Allenton, Derby in May 2012. Their brother Duwayne, 13, died later in hospital.

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