Mick Philpott’s son thinks that he was framed for killing six of his children in a fire

Mick Philpott and his wife Mairead were sent to prison for killing six of their children in a house fire in 2012

Evil Mick Philpott and his wife Mairead shocked the nation in 2012 when they were found guilty of killing six of their own children in an arson attack on their house.

Philpott concocted the heinous plan with an accomplice to blame it on his ex-partner Lisa Willis, the mother of his children so that he could get custody of them.

Philpott, who has 17 children in total, had planned to rescue the children, five of whom were asleep upstairs, by climbing through a window - but tragically, too much petrol was used and he was unable to save them.

Six of his children died - Duwayne, 13, Jade, 10, John, nine, Jack, eight, Jesse, six and Jayden, five.

Even though he and his wife Mairead tried to cover up what they had done, they both received prison sentences in 2013 - Mick received a minimum of 15 years, and Mairead 17.

But another of Mick's children has now spoken out in defence of his dad.

Michael Philpott has appeared in an upcoming documentary about the horrific events entitled The Philpotts: Five Years On.

Michael revealed that he thinks his father is innocent and was framed for the chidlren's deaths.

He said: "I'm 100% positive that my dad's innocent. It's just - there's no way on God's earth that my dad could have done that. I'm a 100% positive."

Michael went onto portray his dad as a real family man: "I don't think he ever would do anything to jeopardise or put the kids in danger – something that could go so wrong so quick.

"I don't believe he couldn't have done it like that. Someone's put it on him, someone used his bad name against him. It's ruined me and it's ruined my family, and it's ruined even the friends that were really close to us. It's devastated us."

Michael went on to recount the events of that night from his point of view: "About an hour afterwards, we got a call from me brother and we rushed straight down to the hospital, and me dad was there.

"I think I was there about half an hour and they brought Duwayne out, they had to rush him to Birmingham, he had tubes and wires coming out of him. Everywhere – was black. Burn marks on him.

"On day of the funeral, there was me, me other, older two brothers and some of the family members carrying the coffins. But before the funeral we were basically told that me dad wasn't allowed to attend."

He went on to add that his dad had been trying to get counselling because he was "struggling".

The Philpotts: Five Years On will be airing on Channel 5 soon.

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