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Original poster

To be amazed they've released Mairead Philpott?

874 replies

MarylinMonrue · 29/11/2020 17:02

After serving half her sentence for the arson attack? Apparently even a source from the prison was a shocked at the leniency and the fact she's going to get a new identity and protection. Six children in that fire - is there such a thing as justice in this country anymore?

OP posts:
x2boys · 01/12/2020 16:18

I don't think there is any confirmed learning disabilities , I mean she may well have a low IQ but obviously that's not the same as learning disabilities

ZoeCM · 01/12/2020 19:13

This thread would have gone very differently if, instead of killing her own children, Mairead had killed six children from middle-class families.

Thisisworsethananticpated · 01/12/2020 19:17

A Jesus don’t go blaming blaming blaming
How would her family be able to prevent this ? How can any people with maybe less means and less confidence navigate the system ?
These people exist bloody everywhere
It’s humanity and poverty and education

And it will always happen sadly

LadyMonicaBaddingham · 01/12/2020 19:19

Heard this on the radio this morning. Disgusted - those poor children are just nothing to whoever made this decision, aren't they?!

stairway · 01/12/2020 19:25

She was sentenced accordingly though so what is the point about getting worked up on this. She couldn’t be charged with murder with no intent. She will be sat at home on benefits her whole life with little freedom. Not that much difference to prison really.

randomer · 01/12/2020 19:30

How would her family be able to prevent this ?

We will never know but how could they possibly have thought any of her lifestyle was OK?
Somebody could have stepped in. How could they go on those hideous TV programmes?

PandemicAtTheDisco · 01/12/2020 19:41

Should staff at schools been more proactive, social workers more closely involved, neighbours, friends and relatives more concerned?. Did Jeremy Kyle staff witness anything and should they have acted?

I think those children were failed by more than just their parents.

RandomUser18282 · 01/12/2020 19:47

This reply has been withdrawn

This has been withdrawn by MNHQ at the poster's request.

x2boys · 01/12/2020 19:47

Anne widdecombe stayed with them or filmed with them at least she said as far as she was concerned the children were fed and clean and had a massive adventure playground in the back garden but she thought the parents treated the children indifferently , unfortunately some parents do treat the children indifferently ,there are contradictory reports that the children were barely fed ,but would that not have been picked up at school if the children were severely malnourished?

Emeraldshamrock · 01/12/2020 20:19

I re-watched their fake tears press conference it is chilling.

Wheresmykimchi · 01/12/2020 20:30

@stairway

She was sentenced accordingly though so what is the point about getting worked up on this. She couldn’t be charged with murder with no intent. She will be sat at home on benefits her whole life with little freedom. Not that much difference to prison really.
Because she should have served 17 years. Little freedom? In what way?
Wheresmykimchi · 01/12/2020 20:32

@OwlOneAmorFati

Wow, he was evil. Naive people like op underestimate the power of coercive control in a trauma bond relationship unfortunately, so there will always be many people who just dont understand.
I don't think the ones who are feeling sorry for and excusing her are the naive ones.
Thisisworsethananticpated · 01/12/2020 20:41

Great post
Mathanziwty

ancientgran · 01/12/2020 22:39

@randomer We will never know but how could they possibly have thought any of her lifestyle was OK?
Somebody could have stepped in. How could they go on those hideous TV programmes?

If you watch the documentary someone linked to earlier you will see her sisters tried to get her to leave, went round to her house when he was out and said leave with us now and we will pick the kids up.

Her family must have been through hell, I don't think it is fair to blame them.

ancientgran · 01/12/2020 22:41

I don't think there is any confirmed learning disabilities , I mean she may well have a low IQ but obviously that's not the same as learning disabilities I can't remember the wording she used but Anne Widdecombe said something about Lisa being the less able or more vulnerable one. She was so pleased when she heard Lisa had got away.

ancientgran · 01/12/2020 22:46

@MrsBobDylan I have experience of being a child with parents in a dv relationship. My Mum goaded my Dad to get his attention and actively tried to escalate arguments. Once my Dad had hit her then he would be sorry and she had a sense of power over him. He was 'wrong' and she was 'right'. I remember Erin Pizzey making documentaries in the 1970s about domestic abuse and the refuge she was running. It was a big topic at the time and I think DV had been hidden or just accepted before that. She was a big hero with women's groups until she said pretty well what you've just said. She fell from grace. The women had to be innocent (and obviously lots are) it wasn't acceptable to say women could deliberately provoke violence.

It must have been so hard for you, I hope you are OK.

Cygne · 01/12/2020 23:06

If we say that people like this can't have the benefit of the parole system, prisons would have great difficulty in controlling them, let alone taking steps to rehabilitate them, as they would have no incentive to co-operate.

stairway · 01/12/2020 23:10

Serving half the sentence is normal in our criminal justice system, it’s not specific to her case. She won’t have freedom because she will have no money and living on basic benefits with no friends or family. Her life will continue in this horrible way until she dies.

ItsAlwaysSunnyOnMN · 01/12/2020 23:19

MrsBobDylan I’m sorry to read your post I can relate to having a similar mother

I always wanted to view my mum as the victim it was easier for me to accept she choose a man she feared and who manipulated her over me who was violent to us both (she had every opportunity to get out even financial support to move abroad)

But she did it again in another relationship when her partner at the time (highly volatile relationship because she loves the drama) tried to kiss me and was forceful. I was sixteen at the time. I told my mum her response was he is just trying to make me jealous. Yes of course she stayed with him

It was when I worked I dv meeting many women like my mum feisty and would blame everyone else (particularly social services) for their problems and never taking responsibility that I realised my mum though sometimes battered by her man of the time was also very narcissistic and cruel too. I remember the games she played, the flirting, the starting arguments it was always drama

See these women can’t and don’t love their children in the way we do their love is complex it’s not unconditional they are jealous and resentful towards their children they children don’t come first they do or the relationship they are in does

Wheresmykimchi · 01/12/2020 23:44

@stairway

Serving half the sentence is normal in our criminal justice system, it’s not specific to her case. She won’t have freedom because she will have no money and living on basic benefits with no friends or family. Her life will continue in this horrible way until she dies.
With a new identity? Wouldn't bank on it.

Regardless , she will have more of a shot than the six weans

mathanxiety · 02/12/2020 05:03

Little freedom? In what way?

She has a conditional release.
Any more criminal activity and she will be back in the slammer to serve out her full sentence. I have a feeling she will be closely monitored by police, and regardless of the new identity she will be identified by the public and will be in danger.

Living on basic benefits in poverty won't be all that different from her life with Mick Philpott.

stressfullday · 02/12/2020 05:19

People here saying her family could have stepped in.

What could they actually have done? They had a bizarre life but mairead is an adult , she didn't want their help.

mathanxiety · 02/12/2020 05:19

But she was entirely willing to get on his bad side when it came to something SHE cared about (unlike the lives of her own children). He told her he wanted a divorce and she refused. How could she say no to that, but not to a plan to kill her own children? Why didn't she offer to stay in the house with them so she could at least get them to safety?

@ZoeCM
He could have thrown her out of the house if she had agreed to divorce, but he was not a man who let his children go without a fight. He had done this to other women who had borne his children. The entire framing of Lisa was done in order to take back the children from her. The only way Mairead could guarantee to stay with her children was to refuse to divorce. A married woman has the right to stay in the house. Not happily. Not safely. But she has that right. The wedding ring was the only leverage she had when it came to those children.

Mick Philpott needed her outside with him in case the fire went wrong. If she had died he would have stood accused of murdering a woman he had demanded a divorce from three times, and that charge would have been hard to disprove. And she wouldn't have been able to contribute to his story of who started the fire and why, or keep the rat Mosley on task. He was able to convince her that the fire itself would be a minor detail of the entire plot, and also that she was needed outside.

stressfullday · 02/12/2020 05:21

@Chocwocdoodah

All those saying that she has to live with herself etc - I really don't think she cares.

They didn't actually intend to kill their children - they intended to start the fire and blame his ex. So when those poor children all ended up dead, you'd think that Mairead and Mick would be absolutely devastated beyond belief at what they'd unintentionally done. But I remember a programme years ago which included audio secretly recorded of the pair in a hotel room after the children had died - they were discussing how to cover up the fact that they were to blame. All of their children had just died and they were more concerned about getting away with it. That's a special kind of evil.

It was mick who was discussing this. His wife was just giving simple yes or no responses.
RandomUser18282 · 02/12/2020 06:41

This reply has been withdrawn

This has been withdrawn by MNHQ at the poster's request.