Mother’s fury after Facebook removes pictures of baby son who lived for just eight hours after being born with rare birth defect
By Rachel Quigley
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A furious mother is demanding answers from Facebook as to why they took down photographs she posted on the site of her son, who was born with a rare birth defect, and then later banned her from the site altogether.
Grayson James Walker, from Memphis, Tennessee, was born on February 15, 2012 with Anencephaly, a rare neural tube birth defect in which a baby is born without parts of the brain and skull.
His parents Heather and Patrick Walker knew 16 weeks into the pregnancy their son would not live very long due to his birth defect.
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Precious moments: Heather and Patrick Walker say goodbye to their newborn son Grayson who only lived for eight hours after being born with a rare defect
Love and care: Patrick and his two other children cradle Grayson before he passes away
Faith: Heather and Patrick knew at 16 weeks their son would not live long but they decided to have him anyway so they and their other two children could share some precious moments with him
‘They of course gave us the option to terminate,’ said Heather. But they chose to carry their baby full term and turned to God for strength.
‘My husband and I, we started prayer and we knew that God knew since the beginning of time that he had us for this,’ she said.
The couple were fully prepared to have to say goodbye to him on the same day they welcomed him into the world.
So, with the help of non-profit organization Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep, they had a professional photographer to take photos of their newborn, just the same way as they did with their other two children and what most parents around the world do.
Magic moments: With the help of non-profit organization Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep, they had a professional photographer to take photos of their newborn, just the same way as they did with their other two children
Memories: The family wanted to remember baby Grayson’s brief time in the world and had a photographer come and capture the first and last moments of his life
Family: Facebook fans are rallying around a mother who feels Facebook is discriminating against photos she posted on the social media network of her son
He only lived for eight hours but the Walkers wanted to capture his short life so his memory could live on forever.
Heather explained to Fox News that she uploaded the pictures on to her Facebook page so she could share them with family and friends.
WHAT IS ANENCEPHALY?
Anencephaly is a disorder that results from a neural tube defect that occurs when the head end of the neural tube fails to close, usually between the 23rd and 26th day of pregnancy, resulting in the absence of a major portion of the brain, skull, and scalp.
The remaining brain tissue is often exposed — not covered by bone or skin. Most babies with this genetic disorder do not survive birth, however there have been notable exceptions.
In most of the pictures, baby Grayson is wearing a hat. But in some, he was not.
Heather explained: ‘Not long after, Facebook deleted them because of the content. They allow people to post almost nude pictures of themselves, profanity, and so many other things but I’m not allowed to share a picture of God’s beautiful creation.’
According to Facebook’s community standards page, there are nine types of content that may be deemed offensive and removed: Violence and Threats, Self-Harm, Bullying and Harassment, Hate Speech, Graphic Violence, Nudity and Pornography, Identity and Privacy, Intellectual Property and Phishing and Spam
Heather said she has no idea which category her child’s picture falls under but has now launched a protest – posting the picture several times and getting her friends and family to contact Facebook.
The networking site responded by banning Heather Walker from Facebook.
Patrick Walker said of his son: ‘You know, my son lived almost eight hours, and he’s already done in eight hours what I could never do in a hundred lifetimes, and that’s awesome.’
Facebook have yet to respond to requests for comment.
Categories: News Tags: after, Baby, being, birth, Born, defect, EIGHT, Facebook, Fury, Hours, just, lived, mothers, Pictures, rare, Removes
Student killed and seven injured in ‘Mafia’ bomb blast outside school in Italy
- Two explosions scattered shrapnel just as students were arriving for lessons as the devices, connected to gas canisters and hidden in rucksacks went off
- Blast went off close in the southern Italian town of Brindisi, home to the local mafia known as the Sacra Corona Unita
- Melissa Bassi, 16, suffered horrific injuries in the explosion and died shortly after arriving at hospital
- There are fears over another of those hurt, a girl, whose condition was described as ‘life threatening’
- Brindisi’s mayor said: ‘This is an unprecedented attack by organised crime’
By Nick Pisa
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Tragic: Melissa Bassi, 16, suffered horrific injuries in the explosion and was rushed to hospital but died a short while later from her injuries
A schoolgirl was killed and seven others injured today in a suspected mafia bomb blast which hit a school.
Two powerful explosions scattered deadly shrapnel across a wide area just as students were arriving for lessons as the devices, connected to gas canisters and hidden in rucksacks went off.
Melissa Bassi, 16, suffered horrific injuries in the explosion and was rushed to hospital but died a short while later from her injuries and there are fears over another of those hurt, a girl, whose condition was described as ‘life threatening.’
Paramedics and police were immediately at the scene and TV footage showed scenes of chaos as shocked students gathered outside the building and investigators immediately linked the tragedy to an anti mafia protest march.
The blast went off close to the Morvillo Falcone school in the southern Italian town of Brindisi and home to the local mafia known as the Sacra Corona Unita who have close links with the Russian and Albanian mafia and are linked to drug and gun running.
The school is named after Francesca Morvillo Falcone, who was the wife of anti mafia judge Giovanni Falcone, who were both killed in a bomb blast on May 23 1992 which was carried out by the Sicilian Mafia and tonight/last night there was growing outrage at how innocent school chidlren had been targeted.
Blast: Two powerful explosions scattered deadly shrapnel across a wide area just as students were arriving for lessons at Morvillo Falcone school
Tributes: Dozens Melissa Bassi’s friends have left tributes on her Facebook page
The devices were hidden in a bin about 30metres from the Brindisi courthouse and as they exploded students arriving for lessons caught the full impact of the blasts.
Debris was scattered over a wide area with shrapnel from the canisters piercing shutters of nearby shops and blowing out windows of apartment buildings overlooking the scene.
TV footage showed scenes of desperation as shoes and rucksacks were scattered over the floor, abandoned by the students as the bombs went off just as students arrived for lessons.
Although security across Italy has been stepped up with fears of anarchist attacks due to the drastic economic situation the theory quickly gathering momentum was a never before heard of attack on innocent schoolchildren by the mafia.
Accusations: Brindisi’s mayor Cosimo Consales said:’This is an unprecedented attack by organised crime’
Horrifying scene: Emergency crews stand at the site where the two explosions detonated
Brindisi’s mayor Cosimo Consales said: ‘This is an unprecedented attack by organised crime. The name of the school and the planned anti mafia march is all too much of a coincidence,” adding how just two weeks ago a local anti extortion racket campaigner had cheated death after a powerful device went off under his car.”
One eye witness who works in the court building which overlooks the school told Italian media:”I was just opening the window when the blast caught me in full. When I looked down I saw all the kids on the floor, they were covered in black and their books were on fire.
‘It was an infernal scene. Who could have done something like this ? They were just kids.’
The European Caravan for Legality, is an anti mafia protest that had left Rome last month and was due to wind its away across Italy promoting initiatives against organised crime.
Giovanni Falcone and his wife were killed along with their three strong security escort after the Mafia detonated a bomb under a motorway as he made his convoy made his way from Palermo airport, on the mob’s island stronghold of sicily airport to the city centre.
Shocked: One eyewitness said: ‘It was an infernal scene. Who could have done something like this? They were just kids’
Investigation: Italian firefighters inspect the site where an explosive device went off
Just two months later his successor Paolo Borsellino who was also killed in a car bomb in Palermo as he visited the apartment block where his mother lived.
Local MP Alfredo Mantovano was also at the scene and said:”There is an anti mafia meeting taking place at the moment with the prosecutors and forces of law and order. This is the first time in Italy that a school has been targeted and this is the most terrible aspect of all this.”
The schoolgirl who was said to be in a serious condition was named as Veronica Capodieci and she had severe burns and internal injuries with doctors battling to save her life as her family waited outside the operating theatre.
According to statistics from Eurispes, an Italian economic and social think tank the Sacra Corona Unita has a turn over of around 2.5 billion Euro a year from its organised crime activities and is mainly from drugs, prostitution and arms trafficking.
In April 2009 two leading mobsters from the organisation were gunned down in their cars, Franco Romita and Giuseppe Trotta, were left virtually unrecognisable after the hit as their bodies were riddled with dozens of bullets.
Last week 35 people were arrested in a blitz by local police across Puglia, the region os southern Italy where the Sacra Corona Unita is based and also where Hollywood star Helen Mirren has a holiday home.
Categories: News Tags: 'Mafia', blast, bomb, injured, Italy, killed, outside, School, seven, student
Tories have held cosy meetings with Google every month since election
- David Cameron has met web giant three times; George Osborne, four times
- In total, 23 meetings between Tory ministers and Google since June 2010
- New embarrassment for Conservatives after NI debacle
By Daniel Martin and Claire Ellicott
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Tory ministers have held meetings with Google an average of once a month since the General Election.
The revelation of the extraordinarily close relationship increases concerns that the internet giant has the ear of the Government on a host of sensitive topics.
Official records show that David Cameron has met Google executives three times and Chancellor George Osborne four times.
Culture minister Ed Vaizey has met the firm no fewer than seven times while his Culture Secretary boss Jeremy Hunt – currently under pressure over his links to another media giant, News Corp – has held four meetings.
The Tories’ close relationship with Google goes back to David Cameron’s first months as party leader. In 2006 and 2007, he spoke to the annual Google Zeitgeist conference (above)
George Osborne has met Google executives four times; Culture minister Ed Vaizey (centre) has met them no fewer than seven times; and Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt – currently under pressure over his links to another media giant, News Corp – has held four meetings with the web giant
In total, there have been at least 23 meetings between Conservative ministers and Google since June 2010.
The links are so strong that in recent years at least three senior figures have moved between the Tories and Google.
Links with media giants are a highly sensitive topic for the Tories. The current section of the Leveson inquiry into Press standards is focusing on the painfully close ties between Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp and the Conservatives.
Revelations have included the toe-curling text messages between the Prime Minister and the company’s former chief executive, Rebekah Brooks.
In addition, a series of emails have lifted the lid on the close relationship between News Corp’s top lobbyist and Mr Hunt’s department during the company’s abortive attempt to take over satellite broadcaster BSkyB in 2011.
Labour has also accused the Conservatives of going soft on online porn because of its close relationships with firms such as Google.
Last month a Google executive caused outrage when she said it was the fault of parents if their children saw adult content online.
The executive in question was Naomi Gummer, who until recently was Mr Hunt’s political adviser.
Google was approached by the Tories to store patients’ records after the failure of Labour’s health IT scheme.
And it has been repeatedly criticised for paying tax on less than a quarter of its UK income. In 2010 it generated £2.1billion here but locates its international operations in Ireland, where it can take advantage of the 12.5 per cent corporation tax rate.
Along with many other media companies, Google is anxiously awaiting the Government’s long-delayed Green Paper for its proposed Communications Bill which will have major implications for digital media in the UK.
Google has been repeatedly criticised for paying tax on less than a quarter of its UK income. In 2010 it generated £2.1bn here but locates its international operations in Ireland (above), where it can take advantage of the 12.5 per cent corporation tax rate
Last night Helen Goodman, Labour’s media spokesman, said: ‘Of course it is important for ministers to listen to business, but a meeting with Google every month does look like the sort of privileged access that small businesses can only dream of.
‘Ministers must disclose what they discussed. Did they challenge Google over their repellent tax avoidance, which was uncovered by the Daily Mail?’
The record of meetings, obtained from research into departmental websites, shows other Tory ministers to have met Google are further education minister John Hayes, universities minister David Willetts, policy minister Oliver Letwin and business minister Baroness Wilcox.
Two Lib Dems – Business Secretary Vince Cable and Ed Davey, then an employment minister – have met the firm.
The close relationship goes back to Mr Cameron’s first months as party leader. In 2006 and 2007, he spoke to the annual Google Zeitgeist conference.
On the second occasion, Google picked up the bill for hotels and flights between London, San Francisco, Sacramento and Los Angeles.
Last night a spokesman for Google said: ‘It’s absolutely right that governments speak with companies about issues that affect their citizens.
Links with media giants are a highly sensitive topic for the Tories. Leveson Inquiry revelations have included the toe-curling text messages between the PM and News Corps’ former chief executive, Rebekah Brooks (above)
‘The British Government makes the list of those meetings publicly available – including the Daily Mail’s 34 meetings over the same period.’
Last night a Tory source said the Government was working with internet firms to install higher-speed broadband, to crack down on online porn, and to draw up a major Green Paper on communications, and that it was wrong to say Google had any special access because of Mr Cameron’s relationship with Steve Hilton.
A Conservative Party spokesman said: ‘All these meetings have been properly declared and it is normal for relevant ministers to meet with a company of this size.’
Steve Hilton and Rachel Whetstone have been linked to Mr Cameron since 1992
First it was Murdoch, now Tories ‘get too close to Google’
The number of meetings between Tory ministers and Google executives raises questions because of David Cameron’s close relationship with his oldest political friend Steve Hilton and his wife Rachel Whetstone.
Mr Hilton was until recently the Prime Minister’s most trusted adviser in Number 10, and Miss Whetstone is global head of communications at Google HQ in California.
The three met in 1992 when they worked together on John Major’s successful election campaign.
Mr Cameron then became a Whitehall special adviser, alongside Miss Whetstone, while Mr Hilton set up his own consultancy firm.
The three became lynchpins of the ‘Notting Hill Set’.
Mr Hilton even became godfather to David and Samantha Cameron’s late son Ivan, and the PM is godfather to the Hiltons’ second son.
It was Steve Hilton who persuaded Mr Cameron to run for the Tory leadership in 2005 after Michael Howard – for whom Rachel Whetstone was by this time working as chief of staff – stepped down.
Mr Howard’s resignation prompted Miss Whetstone to join the private sector, and she got a communications job at Google.
Mr Cameron took on Mr Hilton, who had been working for advertising firm Saatchi & Saatchi, as chief strategic policy adviser, where he became known for his ‘blue sky thinking’ and came up with the idea of the Big Society.
But questions soon grew over whether Mr Hilton’s wife’s position at Google was giving the internet giant too much influence on Conservative policy.
Mr Cameron addressed the firm’s annual conference twice, in 2006 and 2007. Around this time he began to talk about encouraging patients to store their medical records with companies such as Google.
The then Lib Dem health spokesman Norman Lamb, now a minister in the Coalition Government, said: ‘It leaves a nasty taste in the mouth that there are repeated references to Google, given the closeness of Team Cameron to that organisation, and it leaves concerns about commercial advantage.’
Mr Hilton moved with Team Cameron to Number 10 on the formation of the Coalition.
Many of his policies were described as ‘bonkers’ by colleagues, and angered senior Lib Dems as well as civil servants.
He wanted to slash protections for workers to help business, advocated ignoring EU laws and most recently called for the welfare budget to be slashed by a further £25billion.
The arch-Thatcherite also wanted to sack two in three civil servants, and urged ministers to fly with ‘upstart’ Virgin rather than ‘fat cat’ British Airways.
The shaven-headed son of Hungarian immigrants stood out in Number 10 as a result of his propensity to walk around shoeless and in a T-shirt, a get-up which caused Barack Obama to call him a ‘beach bum’.
Mr Cameron and Mr Hilton spoke every Sunday and one insider said they were so close that he was the only person who could get the PM to change a policy within minutes.
While Mr Hilton is an outsider in high society, Miss Whetstone had a privileged upbringing more akin to Mr Cameron’s.
However, the relationship was not helped in the early 2000s by rumours of an affair with Viscount Astor, Samantha’s stepfather, before she got together with Mr Hilton.
In March it was announced that Mr Hilton was to take up an academic post at Stanford University in California to be near his wife. He plans to return next year.
Rachel Whetstone is not the only senior Tory official to have links to Google.
Naomi Gummer, daughter of Mr Cameron’s Oxfordshire neighbour Lord Chadlington, worked with Miss Whetstone in Google’s public policy division and is still an executive there. She was previously an adviser to Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt.
Amy Fisher, Caroline Spelman’s special adviser since last year, did a stint at Google as a press officer with Miss Whetstone.
Tycoon victim of hit-and-run driver WAS murdered: Ukraine inquiry upgraded after Daily Mail investigation
By Stephen Wright
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A millionaire British businessman run over as he celebrated his first wedding anniversary with his internet bride is thought to have been murdered, police said yesterday.
Detectives in the Ukraine have upgraded their inquiry into the death of 47-year-old Barry Pring from an unexplained ‘traffic accident’ to ‘intentional murder’.
It comes after a Daily Mail investigation revealed a highly suspicious chain of events leading up to the killing near Kiev.
Wedding day: Miss Ziuzina and Barry Pring in the Ukraine in 2007. Detectives have upgraded their inquiry into the death to murder
We also exposed the Ukrainian authorities’ shambolic handling of the case, prompting the Foreign Office to demand a fresh police probe.
Foreign Secretary William Hague has been told the local mafia may have been involved and detectives now firmly believe Mr Pring was the victim of a contract killing.
In a statement last night, the Ukrainian district police said officers were keen to interview Mr Pring’s widow, Anna Ziuzina, 19 years his junior, about his death.
Mr Pring, from Battersea, south-west London, was struck by a car travelling at 80mph as he waited for a cab on the hard shoulder of a deserted dual carriageway on the outskirts of Kiev in February 2008. The vehicle’s lights were switched off at the time of impact and debris found at the scene included false number plates and a bogus taxi sign.
Miss Ziuzina, now 33, had been at his side a few minutes earlier but had left the spot to fetch her gloves from a nearby restaurant, where they had just enjoyed a romantic meal. She was standing nearby, with her back to the road, when her husband was killed.
The widow, who worked in strip clubs and met Mr Pring through a dating agency, is involved in an increasingly bitter legal battle with his British relatives over his £1.5million estate. He died without leaving a will.
She is seeking £200,000, plus half of everything else, and a hearing is due to take place at the High Court in London in September.
Hidden life: Anna Ziuzina worked in strip clubs and was 19 years Mr Pring’s junior. Mr Pring, from Battersea, south-west London, was struck by a car travelling at 80mph
Although she never lived in Britain during their marriage and since his death has advertised herself as a model in Miami, she has been granted legal aid to fund her claim. This is because she was Mr Pring’s next of kin and held a two-year marriage visa when he died.
Miss Ziuzina is thought to be currently in the UK but her exact whereabouts are unclear. Although she is said to be living in London, she did not attend a recent preliminary court hearing.
Nor did she attend Mr Pring’s belated funeral in Devon in September last year.
She is expected to be called to give evidence at an inquest into his death in the next year.
Nikolai Zhukovich, spokesman for Kiev police, told the Mail: ‘The case has been re-categorised to a murder investigation.
‘I cannot tell you who the suspect is, nor if there are any suspects at all. The only thing I can say – we think it was murder and now we are investigating it in this way as a successful attempt on Pring’s life. We now want to interview Anna Ziuzina. Our investigator will first just invite her to come. If she does not come, we’ll apply to the court. We do not think she is hiding, so we hope she will just come and talk to us.’
Tamara Khavroshina, lawyer for Miss Ziuzina, said: ‘They had an unsolved road accident. Now they are likely to get an unsolved murder.
‘Anna is not in the Ukraine now. She is still busy trying to resolve her inheritance. I do not think she will come to Ukraine even if they call her. If I were Anna, I would have come but I think she is too scared. Law can be bought and sold in this country.’
Mr Pring’s brother Shaughan, who lives near Exeter, said: ‘Obviously we as a family are delighted the case is now being treated as murder and hope the Ukrainian authorities bring those responsible to justice.
‘In bringing Barry’s death to public attention, the Daily Mail’s detailed investigation definitely helped progress the case to where it is now.’
Mr Pring owned a string of properties, drove two cars, including a Lotus, and ran an IT consultancy. Amid allegations of police corruption, incompetence and a cover-up, his killers have not been brought to justice.
Last year a Conservative MP raised questions in the Commons about Mr Pring’s death.
Then, in June last year, the Daily Mail revealed the highly suspicious circumstances of the death. Our inquiries took us from London to Kiev to Miami, and we had exclusive access to legal documents, emails and other papers relating to the case.
We disclosed that prior to meeting Mr Pring, Miss Ziuzina worked at gentlemen’s clubs in Ukraine and Luxembourg.
But when she advertised for a husband on an international dating website, Mr Pring thought she was an English teacher.
When he found out several weeks into their relationship in 2006 that she worked in strip clubs, he persuaded her to give it up and set her up in a flat with an allowance.
They married in Kiev in January 2007 but had a long-distance relationship and lived together for only a few weeks before his death 13 months later.
Categories: News Tags: 'victim', after, Daily, Driver, hitandrun, Inquiry, investigation, Mail, murdered, tycoon, Ukraine, upgraded
After the fire that killed six children…who DID pour petrol through their letterbox?
By Tom Rawstorne
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Head bowed and heartbroken, the tears flowed too fast for Mairead Philpott to do anything else but let her husband do the talking.
And so it was left to 54-year-old Mick Philpott to thank the emergency services for their valiant but vain efforts to save their six children from the fire that was deliberately started in their Derby home eight days ago.
‘We can’t express our gratitude enough,’ he told a press conference on Wednesday, dabbing a tissue at his eyes as he spoke. ‘It’s not just us that have suffered, it’s them as well.’
They, like Mr Philpott, had witnessed first-hand the fallout of this terrible blaze, caused by an unknown arsonist pouring petrol through the letterbox of their semi-detached house in the early hours of last Friday morning and then igniting it.
Tragedy: The family pictured in 2007: The children, back row from left, Katrine and Kirk in Lisa Willis’s arms, Yawery and Jayden in the arms of Mr Philpott, Jade, Jack and Jordan. Front row, from left, Jesse with Mrs Philpott, Duwayne and John
Flames and smoke filled the hallway, funnelling upwards towards the bedrooms where the children were asleep.
Within minutes, five were dead, killed by smoke inhalation — Jade, ten, John, nine, Jack, seven, Jessie, six and Jayden, five. A sixth, 13-year-old Duwayne, would survive until Sunday night, when his parents took the heartbreaking decision to switch off his life support machine.
‘To lose one child in a family is a very traumatic event,’ is the way Father Alan Burbidge, friend and priest to the family, put it when I visited the scene of the fire in Derby earlier this week. ‘But try to focus on losing six and it is overwhelming.’
Hardly surprising, then, that 31-year-old Mrs Philpott could not bring herself to utter a single word at that press conference.
Tears: Mairead and Mike Philpott in tears at a press conference on Wednesday
Yet, while these tragic circumstances are wholly unprecedented, Mrs Philpott is not unused to her husband fielding the questions.
The unemployed former baker first hit the headlines in 2006, after it emerged that he had fathered no fewer than 17 children by five different mothers — and that he lived with two of the women at the same time.
It was a disgrace, he complained, that a man with so many kids should be squashed into a semi-detached council house with three bedrooms.
Appearances followed on television and in downmarket magazines. Mr Philpott was dubbed ‘Shameless Mick’ and ‘Britain’s Biggest Scrounger’. But he ferociously defended his unconventional lifestyle.
Memories: Flowers and gifts outside the Philpott house in Derby in tribute to the six dead children
Yet just days after this terrible tragedy, it is this very lifestyle which has become the focus of the investigation into the fire. Police have confirmed that one line of inquiry is that someone might have held a grudge against Mr Philpott because of his ‘celebrity status’.
In other words, they might have seen him on television or read about him and taken against him. But it goes further than that. Detectives have also been examining the unusual nature of Mr Philpott’s family life itself. While he has always robustly defended his living arrangements, there is mounting evidence that in the months before the fire these complex relationships had dramatically fallen apart.
A bitter custody battle was brewing with his long-term lover, allegations of infidelity were being bandied around, as were questions about the paternity of some of Mr Philpott’s brood.
It was against this background that on 3.47am last Friday, the Derbyshire fire brigade was alerted to a house fire on Victory Road, Derby.
Three fire engines were dispatched, the first arriving within five minutes of the call. Battling the blaze, firefighters entered the house and quickly reached the six children, who were brought outside and laid on the ground in front of the property.
Attempts were made to resuscitate them but it became apparent that little could be done for any of the five youngest.
The horror of what unfolded is described by one traumatised neighbour: ‘It wasn’t a huge fire, but there was lots of smoke. I came out the house to see Mick carrying a limp body. The little one still had pyjamas on. It was clear he was already dead. It was absolutely horrendous. There were other little bodies on the pavement.’
It remains unclear exactly where Mr and Mrs Philpott were when the fire broke out.
Police chose not to interview the couple while they were at the bedside of Duwayne, saying it would have been inappropriate. Even by the time of the press conference, five days after the fire, they had not properly spoken to them.
Mairead and Mick Philpott took the heartbreaking decision to take their son Duwayne, 13, off life support
As a result, some reports state that the couple were in a caravan to the side of the property or in a conservatory at the back of the house when they were alerted by two smoke alarms.
Others suggest Mr Philpott may not have been in the house at all when fire broke out, but returned to find it ablaze.
Wherever he was, it is said that Mr Philpott made ‘valiant’ attempts to rescue his children, grabbing a ladder and trying to reach a first-floor window at the back of the house, before being beaten back by heat and flames.
Within hours of the fire, police arrested two people on suspicion of murder.
They were 28-year-old Lisa Willis and her brother-in-law, Ian Cousins, 38. Both would subsequently be released without charge.
Miss Willis was Mr Philpott’s long-term lover or ‘mistress’. He has four biological children with her: Shareen, eight, Katrine, seven, Kirk, six and five-year-old Yawery.
A fifth child, Jordan, 12, was Miss Willis’s from another relationship, but was raised by Mr Philpott alongside the others. For his part, Mr Philpott also has three grown-up children by a first wife, two more with another woman called Heather Kehoe, and one that is understood to be the product of a liaison with the partner of a friend.
Until earlier this year, Miss Willis and her five children shared the house with Mr and Mrs Philpott and their six children.
The unusual set-up came to light when Mr Philpott complained that the local council were refusing to move him and his extended family to a larger house.
Despite the fact that the household was pocketing some £25,000 annually in benefits, Mr Philpott was unhappy.
‘We obviously need a new place, but the council won’t give us one,’ he said. ‘I used to love my country but I’m just sick of it now. I’m really ashamed of what’s happening. I think this country is going down the pan.’
Referring to his unconventional lifestyle, he once unashamedly said: ‘What man wouldn’t want two women? I love them both and could never choose between them.’
Mr Philpott’s words, combined with his large family and reliance on benefits, attracted an avalanche of criticism. Not that this appeared to bother him.
An appearance on ITV’s Jeremy Kyle Show followed, during which the host accused him of being a scrounger who ‘couldn’t get out of bed’.
On the show, Mr Philpott claimed no one would give him work because of a criminal conviction dating from 1978. It emerged that at 21 he had been jailed for 12 years for attempted murder after repeatedly stabbing his 17-year-old girlfriend with a knife.
Mr Philpott also featured in an ITV documentary with former Tory MP Ann Widdecombe, in which she spent a week with him helping him to get a job (she found him one with a barrel-maker, but Mr Philpott failed to turn up for work).
Ann Widdecombe, centre, featured the Philpotts in a television documentary in 2007
Might it be that Mr Philpott’s public profile so offended someone that they exacted revenge by setting fire to his house?
It was a point explored by news-paper columnist Carole Malone, whose remarks on TV show This Morning earlier this week generated huge controversy.
‘This was an accident waiting to happen,’ she said. ‘There’s a lot of resentment out there for families exactly like this, especially now, especially with the country in the state that it’s in, there’s not much money and people have seen families maybe like this one taking advantage.
‘This family became a target a couple of years ago and I suspect they have many enemies out there because they were seen to be on benefits, they were seen to be asking for a bigger council house and I think they upset a lot of people.’
Outraged viewers took to the internet in their droves to express their disgust that Malone could suggest the family had somehow brought the tragedy upon themselves. Others, however, seemed to agree with her.
While Mr Philpott’s lifestyle may have sparked criticism from some quarters, there seems no doubt that he was a hands-on and devoted father, who is devastated by his recent loss.
Father Burbidge recalls that whenever he visited the family, the children were polite and well-dressed. They would be ferried to and from school in a minibus that Mr Philpott had bought especially for the purpose.
Scene: The blaze broke out at the house in Allenton, Derby, at around 3.45am on Friday June 11
‘Mick sees himself as a patriarchal figure,’ said the priest. ‘Every morning you’d see him tootling along in his minibus, singing and entertaining the children. He was a very outgoing and confident figure.’
But behind closed doors, trouble was brewing with the two women in his life. As one family friend put it to me: ‘He was a brilliant dad but had a very unconventional, bohemian, family set-up. He lived with his wife and mistress and various kids.
‘For years they were really happy together, then a few months ago, things started going wrong. I won’t go into detail, but there were problems and a lot of jealousy between the two women.’ The upshot was that three months ago Miss Willis moved out of the shared home, taking her five children with her and removing them from the local primary school. Mr Philpott’s access to the children was immediately restricted. The breakdown triggered extraordinary outpourings on the Facebook pages of Mr Philpott and his wife. Initial posts suggest he was attempting to perform something of a balancing act between the two women.
‘This is a message to all who dout (sic) my love for Lisa and children I would gladly die for them tomorrow its never too late as the saying goes let bygones be bygones,’ he wrote on April 3.
Two weeks later, in equally badly-constructed prose, he returned to the theme: ‘We can’t choose who we love it happens I really do love Mairead, my wife, but Lisa is my heartbeat she’s everything. I sincerely wish things were different. Mairead deserves better, she has stood by me but I can’t help the way I feel . . .’
But by the beginning of this month, it appears the chance of a reconciliation with his mistress had receded somewhat. He wrote: ‘Me and my beautiful wife from now on your gonna be my number one I’m so sorry for all the hurt I’ve caused u but never again I’m gonna consentrate on u and our 11 children from now on your my world for all infinity.’
Mr Philpott later added: ‘All I want is my wife and all my kids they mean more I’m sorry things turned out like this for my family especially my poor kids using them she’s not fit to be a mother thank Christ I did not devorce Mairead and marry that.’
The tone of the comments concerning Lisa Willis also changed. In one exchange Mr Philpott discussed the unsubstantiated suggestion that his mistress had been having a relationship with another man — who, he implied, was the father of one of Lisa’s children. It is known that on the day the fire broke out, Mr Philpott was due to appear in court at 10am for a civil hearing.
A case was listed under the heading ‘Philpott vs Willis’. It is not clear exactly what it was about, but friends have said it was to do with custody of the children.
Because of the fire, that court case would never take place.
Police have since confirmed they were aware of the hearing and also that they have studied the Facebook entries.
Mr Philpott’s ex-girlfriend Lisa Willis was due to appear in court on the day of the fire
Meanwhile Miss Willis, along with Mr Cousins, was released without charge after being held for a little over 24 hours.
Mr Cousins was unavailable for comment, but his stepfather, Duncan Walsh, told the Mail that he ‘had done nothing wrong — he’s totally innocent’.
Mr Walsh said: ‘He’s been staying here since splitting up with his wife, Amanda, about six weeks ago.’
Before the couple parted, he said Miss Willis had briefly stayed with them. ‘The only reason I can think of as to why they’ve arrested him is Lisa was staying with Ian and Amanda before they split up. I’ve personally not seen Lisa for about ten years.’
Miss Willis, meanwhile, was photographed on Monday outside a hotel where she has been staying since being released from custody under police protection.
‘She’s very scared, shocked and nervous about the whole tragedy. She’s outside most of the time, chain-smoking to try to stay calm,’ a friend said. ‘She’s innocent of any wrongdoing but fears people might have a go at her. Everything is still so raw.’
And, of course, it is rawest of all for Mrs Philpott and her husband, a man who in so many ways had been defined by fatherhood.
‘It’s going to be very hard for Mick,’ is the way Father Burbidge puts it.’ He’s going to have to go from a busy family life to one where there are no dependents living with him. His is a remarkable story with such a terribly tragic ending.’
