Funerals held for six children killed in house fire

MOURNERS turned out today to say farewell to six children who died in a house fire.

The bodies of the children arrived for a funeral service on six horse-drawn carriages.

The hearse carrying the body of Jade Philpott, 10, led the cortege with a horse with pink feathers.

Five more hearses, each with blue feathers, followed, carrying the bodies of her brothers John, nine, Jack, eight, Jessie, six, Jayden, five, and Duwayne, 13, to St Mary’s Catholic Church in Derby town centre.

Five of the six children died in the blaze at the semi-detached house on Victory Road in Allenton, Derby, in the early hours of May 11. Duwayne died two days later in Birmingham Children’s Hospital.

Their father Mick Philpott, 55, and mother Mairead, 31, have been charged with murdering all six children in the blaze.

They were not believed to be at today’s service.