It was the heartbreaking story that horrified Britain. Six children killed in a house fire. The truth behind it was shocking. Parents who seemed distraught were responsible for their deaths. Mick Philpott, already notorious for his strange love life and seventeen kids … in one of the nation’s most notorious crimes. The Philpott Fire: Five Years On, Channel 5 2017
The 11th May 2012 3.30 a.m. Derbyshire emergency services receive a horrifying 999 call. Six children are trapped inside a blazing house. ibid.
How did a complex web of sex, lies and tangled relationships end in such a tragedy? ibid.
‘He also has signs of being a psychopath, a lack of emotion, a lack of remorse.’ ibid. Dr Adam Lynes, criminologist
‘The way he treated women was appalling.’ ibid. Carole Malone
Those who knew the Philpotts were already becoming suspicious. ibid.
Mick and Mairead were busy partying at their local pub. ibid.
On Friday 11th May 2012 a fire ripped through a family home in Derby, East Midlands. Trapped inside and fast asleep were six young children. Britain’s Most Evil Killers s2e1: Mick Philpott, Sky Living 2018
This was no accident. As Mick Philpott, the children’s father, wept in front of the British public he was hiding a sinister secret: he had deliberately started the fire. ibid.
After his release from prison [1982], Philpott had a series of volatile relationships. ibid.
Philpott was known nationally as a benefits scrounger. He abused and controlled his women, and used his children to get more handouts. ibid.
Six children dead, two parents under suspicion, a father with a violent history, and a taste for the media limelight … a plan that went tragically wrong, and a cover-up that unravelled as police listened in. Philpott: 5 Mistakes that Caught the Killer, Channel 5 2020
With an unconvincing [press conference] performance, the couple said they were unwilling to take questions. But the media had their suspicions about Mick Philpott even before the press conference … He preferred to live off state benefits rather than work. ibid.
At the time of the wedding one of the bridesmaids was pregnant with the groom’s baby … Soon afterwards, she moved in with the couple … Philpott had a string of affairs. ibid.
When the local authority refused to move him from his three-bedroom house he took his campaign public … He set fire to his own home. ibid.
Philpott’s taste for violence against women stretched back decades. ibid.
Philpott then bungled the plan, using too much petrol and creating an uncontrollable inferno. ibid.
In a cemetery a few miles from the centre of Derby lies six graves. Each of the headstones marks a final resting place of a family of children. The events that led to the children’s deaths began back in May 2003 when a 19-year-old single mother called Mairead Duffy married her fiancé … Whether his new bride was aware of Philpott’s history is unknown. But even on their wedding day Mairead’s father was concerned. The Philpott Fire: An Evil Conspiracy, Channel 5 2021
In the early hours of the morning on the 11 May 2012 a fire quickly spread through the home of a young family in Derby. The raging fire ripped through the small semi-detached within minutes and all six children lost their lives. The Philpott Fire: What Happened Next, Channel 5 2023
A shocking twist threw suspicion on the parents. ibid.
After ten years of sharing a partner and her children the mistress had had enough. ibid.
The actions of Mick and Mairead became increasingly bizarre. ibid.
[Journalist] ‘This was a national new story. Five children who had died in an horrific fire. Everybody wanted to know who could do something so awful.’ The Philpott Fire: A Very British Horror Story, Channel 5 2024
‘There’s no evidence. They’ve got nothing.’ ibid. Philpott wiretapped
Jade, John, Jack, Jesse & Jayden are pronounced dead at the scene. Miraed’s eldest son, Duwayne, is rushed to hospital. ibid. caption
Derbyshire police launch a murder investigation. ibid.
Mick tells police his ex, Lisa Willis, has been sending him death threats. ibid.
That’s not the behaviour of someone who’s just lost six children. ibid. neighbour
PHYO, WAI: see KOH TAO murders
PICHUSHKIN, ALEXANDER: The Chessboard Killer TV - Alexander Pichushkin - Crimes that Shook the World TV -
This Russian shop assistant believed killing was his destiny. One body at a time Alexander Pichushkin turned a national obsession into a real-life game of terror. The Chessboard Killer, Crime Channel
His alcoholic father abandoned the family. ibid.
[Aged] four he suffered a life-changing injury: the boy received extensive medical treatment for brain damage. After the accident Sasha’s behaviour became impossible. ibid.
He worked ... played chess and drank vodka. ibid.
His dog died and the unassuming grocery assistant fell apart. ibid.
He re-kindled his long dormant fascination with murder. ibid.
He recorded each murder by placing a token on one square of the chessboard he kept in his bedroom. ibid.
The indifference of the Moscow police made Pichushkin feel invulnerable. ibid.
In reality I have committed sixty-one murders. Alexander Pichushkin
He is the worst serial killer in Russia’s history. For years he kept a city in fear; for years he taunted the police. He preyed on the lonely and vulnerable. And he kept a unique record of his crimes. Chessboard Killer: Serial Killers s/a Crimes that Shook the World, Discovery 2009
A vodka bottle or stick forced into the bloody gaping wound at the back of the head. ibid.
Before she left, Marina had tried to call her son on her mobile to tell him where she was going, but it wasn’t working. ibid.
It was an astonishing confession. Sixty victims. ibid.
The Chessboard Killer claims to have murdered more than sixty people. ibid.
PICKLES, KYLE: Killer at the Crime Scene TV -
A teenager [Loui Phillips] has been stabbed. And a family’s lives forever destroyed … A Sunday lunchtime in August: police are called to a stabbing at Fish Dam Lane on the outskirts of Barnsley. Killer at the Crime Scene s2e11, Channel 5 2022
Police have obtained some key CCTV footage. ibid.
‘He [Loui] had not seen him [Kyle] before.’ ibid. mum
PICKTON, ROBERT: Robert Pickton: Pig Farmer Killer TV - CTV News online - World’s Most Evil Killers TV -
On this run-down farm the Canadian police discovered an unimaginable horror. A slaughter-house for human beings. For more than a decade a predator had hunted women in Vancouver. At the time of his capture the number of dead and missing women were staggering. His shocking crimes earned him the name the Butcher. Robert Pickton: Pig Farmer Killer
February 1999: Willie Pickton was on the prowl. ibid.
Brenda was the 53rd Vancouver woman to vanish without a trace. The missing women were all prostitutes or drug addicts from the city’s skid row. ibid.
The jury found Pickton not guilty on all counts of first-degree murder. But Pickton did not escape justice. The jury did find him guilty on six counts of second-degree murder. Judge Williams gave him the maximum sentence of twenty-five years in prison. ibid.