A DAD of 17 kids lost five of them yesterday in an arson blaze at their home.
The children died in the bedroom they shared as their frantic father battled in vain to save them.
Ten-year-old Jade Philpott, her brother John, nine, and siblings Jack, seven, Jessie, six, and five-year-old Jayden were killed after flames from an arson attack engulfed their crowded council semi in Allenton, Derby.
Dad Mick Philpott, 54, and his wife Mairead were sleeping downstairs and managed to flee the inferno.
But jobless Mick — who fathered 17 children with five different women — bravely tried to reach the trapped youngsters before being driven back by the intense heat.
A woman, believed to be 28-year-old Lisa Willis — the estranged mistress of former baker Mick — was arrested on suspicion of murder.
She was still in police custody last night and was due to be questioned later. A 38-year-old man was also arrested on suspicion of murder.
The blaze broke out just before 4am. Neighbours said the front door appeared to have been set alight before the flames spread.
One said: “I heard a load of commotion in the early hours and looked out of my bedroom window.
“Neighbours were shouting for help and seemed to be trying desperately to get into the house. Mick was trying to fight through flames to get the kids out.
“I couldn’t quite see how bad the fire was but the outside of the house is black now.
“Someone told me all six kids were in the same bedroom upstairs.
“The firemen managed to get them outside and take them to hospital.
“It’s so sad that five of them have died — they were so young.”
Mick, who lives on benefits, caused a storm five years ago when The Sun told how he demanded a bigger house from Derby’s city council after revealing that both Mairead and mistress Lisa were pregnant again. He was also involved in a bitter row on TV’s Jeremy Kyle show when the host accused him of being a scrounger who didn’t work and “couldn’t get out of bed”.
Friends told yesterday how mistress Lisa moved out of the family home some time ago, taking her five children with her.
One pal, who asked not to be named, said: “Mick’s ex Lisa left a month or two ago along with her kids. She has a new boyfriend. It was a real tight squeeze in that house. There were eight of them living there after Lisa left.
The SUN