Phillpots trial is anybody following it?

[Minimammoth]

I am .

[Sparklingbrook]

Who was looking after all the children while they were out dogging etc?

[Nancy66]

I doubt anybody was...

[Wewereherefirst]

The 12 weeks no washing was to do with the petrol found on his clothing wasn't it? Shame he doesn't realise that they can trace petrol down to individual batches.

[lemonmuffin]

I agree, it's pretty awful. The thing is, in many areas this kind of behaviour is not that unusual.

And I am kind of surprised that so many mumsnetters seem to be so shocked by it. Maybe it's a north/south divide, I don't know. Or a working/middle class thing.

[Cotapaxi]

It's not working class though. Underclass as Nancy said.

[mercibucket]

north south divide???

middle class working class???

ffs

[flippinada]

It's got nothing to do with being working class or northern/southern.

You get folk like this in every strata of society, unfortunately. The upper class/well off ones are looked on more benignly as eccentrics or oddballs.

[ArielThePiraticalMermaid]

Absolutely terrible, but please don't use the word subhuman :( Pretty awful connotations.

Poor children. What kind of adults would they have become? We'll never know.

[WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeGoes]

Dreadful. The poor children.

Feel for the jury too, I did jury service a few years ago and was on a much less shocking low profile murder case which nonetheless made a very big impact on me, I would think this is going to be extremely hard for them to cope with. I've been called up again in a few weeks, not looking forward to it.

[lemonmuffin]

Okay. Maybe not a north/south/class divide thing then.

I just find it a bit suprising why other mumsnetters are so shocked by this.

Close to where I live, this kind of lifestyle is not that uncommon.

[wrongsideoftheroad]

It actually reminds me of the Fred and Rose West case in terms of the promiscuity with strangers.

Completely f*d up, all of it.

[Cotapaxi]

Because it is shocking I would suspect, how could you not be shocked? It may be common in some places but that certainly doesn't make living like that ok. Sadly I imagine the children would have grown up equally messed up .

[AgentProvocateur]

Really?? I've worked with families in the grimmest of grim areas, with varying levels of intelligence and competence when it comes to parenting, and I'm pretty unshockable. But I find this whole situation, with threesomes, dogging, abortions and swapping partners really really fucking awful. I don't imagine they kept it secret from the children either. I bet they've seen or heard more than most kids. Grim.

[GW297]

So sad.

[stretch]

I hate the term 'underclass'. How vile.

[MumVsKids]

I'm reading the daily court transcripts via www.thisisderbyshire.co.uk - it's so so sad for the children involved, and I'm very much keeping an open mind.

I worked with the family many moons ago, and the one obvious thing that always shone through everything was their love for their children.

I hope the truth will surface through the trial and that justice will be done, whichever way that may be. Most of all, I hope those 6 children are resting peacefully.

For those interested, if you do a YouTube or google search for Jeremy Kyle episodes 2007, this is the series with mick philpott in.

[lemonmuffin]

Yes really Agent Provocateur. You work with families in grim areas yet you find abortion/swapping partners to be so shocking?
Welcome to the real world.

[WildThong]

I'm sure it's not the real world, just one very nasty part of it. I've been shocked and disgusted like most people have.

[LadyBigtoes]

He seems like a very odd person who has some kind of ability to hold sway over various other people/women, whether through DV or other means. I don't think people like that are limited to "underclass" or working class, they crop up in all walks of life.

The case is awful and sad and I agree, increasingly gobsmacking at every turn. I don't know whether I'm more horrified at the idea of not washing or changing your pants for weeks, or the idea that that's a sensible defence to fabricate.

[JakeBullet]

Mumvskids (great name btw), yes I agree that even if they are guilty they did not intend for their children to die am absolutely certain they loved their children.

It's shocking but not surprising to me that their lives were this messed up. I have worked with families like this (not this big) and sometimes what comes up is very shocking....and sometimes for these families it's normality.

I also agree with whoever said that families like this are not restricted to those in poverty.....you get them right through the social classes. If they are rich they would be considered eccentric.

[DolomitesDonkey]

I don't want to follow but morbid curiosity means I get drawn in.

Those poor, poor children.

It was reported they had further threesomes after that fateful night.

Fucked up lives. Always seems somehow cosmically unfair that people like that are able to conceive at the drop of a hat whilst living on a diet of mothers pride and bensons.

I want to say I'm surprised that people live like this, but I think I'm grounded enough in reality to know it happens. Must be quite an eye opener though for the legions of mn-ers who insist people like this do not exist and they don't breed for cash!

I don't give a shit about "rights" - if I had any powers, I'd grab every single child living like that and whisk them away.

[JakeBullet]

I don't think they "breed for cash" but I do think their children "just happen", I doubt they are all planned for.....it's just another mouth to feed sadly.

They are also very unusual in size....a FOI request by a journalist in Feb 2013 showed there were just 190 families with 10+ children in the UK and obviously not all will be claiming benefits. I worked with one of this number...they had 13 children and claimed no benefits as Dad was independently wealthy.

[zeldapinwheel]

I watched them on Jeremy Kyle, the clip is on youtube. He came across as controlling and defensive and really not very nice. The usual Kyle scum.

[WidowWadman]

I find it a bit yuck if people follow this for titillation and entertainment.

I wish the reporting was a bit less sensationalist. And I think there's no need to play the recordings of the 999 call in a report about it, as it's not adding any news value. This stuff is for the jury to hear, but not for anybody else.

[ldt87]

Well in reply to the north, South, lower, middle class comments, I am completely working class and live around the corner from where this happened. I am shocked and disgusted by these people and the details of the case. It has nothing to do with being poor or where you live, there are scum bags everywhere and I don't like it to be implied that people from where I live who are struggling financially behave in this way. It's snobby and elitist. I am as sickened as anyone else by this case, and seeing the house weekly is horrible. This shocked all of derby and I don't think many people from this area would appreciate those comments.