Secret recordings played at deadly British blaze trial

A British man accused of killing six of his children in a house fire was heard saying "I didn't mean to do it" in secret recordings made in a prison van, prosecutors claimed on Friday. A court was played the covert recordings of Mick Philpott, 56, and his 31-year-old wife Mairead talking in the vehicle taking them to Derby Magistrates' Court following their arrest 18 days after the deadly blaze in May last year. The couple are accused of setting fire to their house near Derby, central England, in an attempt to frame his ex-girlfriend and claim custody of the four children they had together. The Philpotts, along with a third defendant Paul Mosley, 46, all deny six counts of manslaughter at Nottingham Crown Court. The court heard a recording in which Mick Philpott is alleged to have whispered to his wife during the journey on May 31: "You definitely sticking to the story? I didn't mean to do it. On my life." But Philpott's lawyer Anthony Orchard argued there was too much background noise for the comment to be heard clearly and disputed that his client had said "I didn't mean to do it". Martin Barry, a forensics speech analyst giving evidence for the defence, said he had listened to the disputed recording "several thousand times" and that it was too "obscured" by the noise of the van to tell what had been said. The court heard the couple were being monitored 24 hours a day by Serious and Organised Crime detectives. In the recording, Mick Philpott is heard asking his wife: "Do you know something? Have they got any evidence on you? They've got nothing on me, nothing." Mairead Philpott is then heard to say: "There's a fingerprint on the window." Mick Philpott replies: "That's it. A few discrepancies, that's all it is." The court later heard from a fire investigator who said smoke patterns found during expert investigations suggested the flames had come from inside the property rather than the outside. Mat Lee, from Derbyshire Fire Service, told the court the blaze had started in the hallway "directly behind the front door" and quickly spread up the stairs to the three bedrooms, Lee said. "Petrol vapour was ignited by a spark or more than likely a naked flame," he said. The jury heard Tuesday that the fire broke out early on the morning Philpott was due to attend court with his former mistress, Lisa Willis, to discuss where their children should live. He had made numerous reports to the police that Willis had threatened him and his family, prosecutor Richard Latham told the court. The family had previously lived under unconventional arrangements, with Philpott, his wife and Willis all sharing a home with the 10 children, plus a child Willis had by another man. But Willis had broken up with Philpott three months before the fire and taken her children with her. The court heard that a fortnight before the fire, Philpott had told friends he had a plan that would help him win his children back from his ex-girlfriend. "She was being set up as the culprit," Latham said. Mosley, the third defendant, is accused of having planned with the Philpotts to rescue the children from the fire. Five of the couple's children, aged five to 10, died during the blaze. Their brother Duwayne, 13, was taken to Derby Royal Hospital and transferred to Birmingham Children's Hospital but died three days later. All six died from smoke inhalation.