Philpott 'joked about fatal blaze night', court told

She told jurors: “He was laughing and joking about the incident saying that when he was trying to rescue the children he had took his chance to hit out at two coppers trying to hold him back.”

Mick Philpott and his wife Mairead are on trial for the manslaughter of their six children along with a third defendant Paul Mosley following a fire at their house in Victory Road, Derby, on May 11 last year.

A week after the fire, which the three are accused of setting to frame Philpott’s former mistress Lisa Willis, Pc Halford said she met Philpott at the hospital at around 1.30am.

The police constable told the court that when she asked him what he was doing at the hospital, Philpott said to her “I’m here to see you gorgeous”.

Paul Mosley’s brother Brian, who was with Philpott, asked Pc Halford: “Don’t you know who he is? He’s Mick Philpott, father of the six dead kids.”

She told the court the statement seemed to be used like a “badge of honour”.

Richard Latham QC asked her: “How was that statement being used to you?”

Pc Halford replied: “I describe it as a badge of honour”.

Philpott alleged that neighbour Adam Taylor, who was later arrested and released without charge, had set the blaze because he had borrowed a strimmer and a petrol can from him two weeks before the fire and had failed to return the petrol can.

He also told her that he was angry police had asked him about his family background and that it was none of their business, Pc Halford told the court.

She said he was “cross” that his wife Mairead had disclosed information to them, including about threesomes the couple had in the past.

Pc Halford told the court that when she returned from phoning the information Philpott had given her to her colleagues, Philpott seemed “jovial” in an office inside the hospital.

“He was jovial, laughing and jolly with the other men in there,” she told the court.

The police constable also told the court Philpott inferred that he would like her to join him at the hotel where he and Mairead were staying following the fire at their home.

The court also heard evidence from a family friend who said she saw Mosley and Philpott at the hospital on the night of the fire on May 11.

Claire Smith said she saw co-accused Mosley arrive at the hospital and thought it was Philpott’s brother.

“He does look very similar to Mick and I thought he was Mick’s brother, Ms Smith told the court this morning.

She said she saw the pair go down the side of Royal Derby Hospital away from everybody else for about half an hour.

“Was anyone else with them?”, Mr Latham asked her.

“No”, Ms Smith replied.

“Could you hear what they were saying?”, Mr Latham asked.

“No,” she replied.

Ms Smith told the court it seemed strange to her, when Philpott already knew he had lost five of his children and that his surviving son Duwayne was fighting for his life.

Giving evidence she said: “You have just lost your five children. You’ve got your other one in the hospital. Everyone reacts differently but me on my hand, why would I want to go and talk to my friend for half and hour when my son is lying in hospital fighting for his life.”

Ms Smith told the court Mrs Philpott seemed very distressed when she saw her at the hospital.

“She was very distressed. Like anyone would be when they’ve lost their children. She was very upset.”

'I can’t let Mick take all the blame.’

This afternoon the court heard from bingo players who alleged that they overheard Paul Mosley talking about "handing himself in" to police last June.

Helen Armstrong told the court she overheard Mosley say in a smoking room at Gala Bingo in Derby: “I think I should hand myself in”.

Anthony Orchard QC crossing-examining asked her: “I’m going to suggest you misheard with all the noise”.

“No that’s all I heard,” Ms Armstrong replied.

Ms Armstrong’s friend Thomas Hannafin, who was also at the bingo hall, also alleged that he overheard the conversation in the smoking room.

In the witness box Mr Hannafin said: “He said ’I might go and hand myself in. I can’t let Mick take all the blame.’ ”

The court also heard Mosley offered his cousin Steve Owen money to get him "out of" Derby when he saw him last year.

Giving evidence this afternoon, Mr Owen told the court he had had little contact with his cousin since 2001 but had seen him in the street in Alvaston last September.

The meeting came after Mosley was first arrested and released by police in June last year in connection with the fire.

Jurors heard Mosley asked his cousin why he had been arrested in connection with the case.

Mr Owen told the court: “He told me he never did anything but that he knew more than the police knew about it”.

He said Mosley offered him £10,000 to take him out of Derby and claimed he had been given the money by a national newspaper for his story.

Mr Owen said he didn’t believe his cousin until he saw reports that Mosley had been charged on Sky News. He told the court he then went to the police.

In his police statement, Mr Owen said during the meeting in September Mosley had also told him he was “at the scene” when the fire was started.

He said in his statement that Mosley was “there at the time the fire was started, then left and then came back”, the court heard.

Mr Owen also told police Mosley had said he knew “more about the incident than the police.”

Mosley was rearrested and charged in November.

Prosecutors have alleged Mosley, with the Philpotts, set the fire at the couple’s house in Victory Road, Derby, to frame Philpott’s former mistress Lisa Willis.

Miss Willis left the three-bedroomed house she shared with the Philpotts and their children in February, taking her five children with her.

Jurors have heard Philpott was due to attend a custody hearing with Miss Willis to discuss residency of the five children, four of which he had fathered, on the day of the blaze.

The trial was adjourned until tomorrow morning.