Philpotts and Mosley jailed for Derby fire deaths

Having been convicted of causing the death of six of his children - Jade, 10, John, 9, Jack, 8, Jesse, 6, and Jayden, 5 - in a fire at his Derby house on 11 May 2012, Mick Philpott, 56, has been told at Nottingham Crown Court today that he would serve a minimum of 15 years in prison.

He was convicted of manslaughter along with his wife Mairead and friend Paul Mosley, who were told they would serve half their 17 year sentences.

Having deliberated overnight, Mrs Justice Thirlwall told Philpott that he was "the driving force behind this shockingly dangerous enterprise".

The trial heard he plotted to set his house alight to frame his former mistress Lisa Willis, with whom he was fighting a custody battle over their children.

The judge said in court today: "I have not the slightest doubt that you, Michael Philpott were the driving force behind this shockingly dangerous enterprise. You Mairead Philpott, the mother of all of those children and you Paul Mosley, a family friend assisted him."

Philpott's sister, Dawn Bestwick, shouted "die, Mick, die" from the public gallery as he was taken down.

The judge told Mairead Philpott, 32, she had been treated "as a skivvy or a slave" by her husband.

She added: "As became clear during the trial you were prepared to go to any lengths, however humiliating, to keep him happy.

"You put Michael Philpott above your children and as a result they have died."

The trial heard Philpott, his wife and his mistress had lived at the three-bedroom council house with 11 of their children until Miss Willis moved out in February 2012.

Mairead Philpott's son from a previous relationship, 13-year-old Duwayne, died later in hospital. The court heard Mick Philpott considered him as his son.

Following the sentencing, George Osborne has said that a debate was needed about whether the state should "subsidise lifestyles like that". Former Government minister Ann Widdecombe, who spent a week living with the Philpott family for a television documentary in 2007, has said that she remembers him as being "extremely manipulative" and "not at all pleasant". She has also said that Mick Philpott abused the benefits system, but that welfare dependency did not cause him to kill.

The Labour Party has accused the chancellor of "cynically" trying to make political capital out of Philpott's "evil acts". Shadow work and pensions minister Stephen Timms, for Labour, said Philpott and the others convicted on Thursday were solely responsible for their "evil acts".

"It is wrong to link those acts with the debate about welfare and George Osborne should not be doing so, even implicitly," he said.