Justice Dole Out For Killers

A BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, MAN was sentenced yesterday to 25-years-to-life in prison for setting a fire in his apartment building that killed five residents.

NY Daily News / Marino

NY1 reports that Daniel Ignacio, 31, was convicted last month on multiple counts, including second-degree murder and arson. Ignacio was apparently drunk in January 2010 when he doused a roll of toilet paper with paint thinner and lit it near the front entrance of his Bensonhurst apartment building. Five of his neighbors died in the fire.

The New York Times describes the act:

Mr. Ignacio, who lived on the second floor, arrived home in the early hours of Jan. 30, 2010, according to evidence presented at trial. Prosecutors showed surveillance video of him pacing in front of the building moments before the fire started.

In the video, Mr. Ignacio can be seen with a white tissue in his hand before ducking into the building. The prosecution said he doused the tissue in paint thinner, ignited it and tossed it in a baby stroller that was in the entryway.

The surveillance video showed smoke billowing from the windows minutes later, and then people pouring out of the building.

Ignacio was heavily drunk at the time and claims that he still does not remember doing the deed.  Investigators concluded that the fatalities were partially the result of inadequate exits from the building that had been illegally subdivided into sub-standard living units.

The owners of the building are currently facing manslaughter charges for their illegal constructions.

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IN DERBYSHIRE, ENGLAND, Mick Philpott, 56, was sentenced to life in prison for starting the fire that killed his six children resulting from a convoluted plot to frame his ex-girlfriend for arson.

His wife Mairead, 32, has been sentenced to 17 years in prison for conspiring with her husband and their friend Paul Mosley, 46, who joined the pair in sexual encounters and helped start the blaze in which the children perished, was also jailed for 17 years.

The Guardian reports:

The Crown alleged the fire was started with Philpott as the prime organiser in a plan to frame his former lover, Lisa Willis, who had walked out with their four children three months earlier.

Philpott had lived in the property with Willis and Mairead, who was the mother of the six children who were killed. He had sexual relationships with both women, alternating between the two. But Willis – who said she was kept a virtual prisoner by Philpott – walked out on him, taking her five children with her in February last year. She had one child from a previous relationship.

The fire at the council house in Victory Road took place hours before Philpott was due to face Willis in court for a custody hearing. The jury heard how Philpott had spread rumours after Willis left that she wanted to firebomb the house, all part of his attempt to frame her for the fire.

The plan was for Philpott to rescue his children and for Willis to be prosecuted for arson, the court heard. But it went horribly wrong when the blaze took hold fast. The adults escaped the house but the six children died as they slept.

All of the news reports pointed out that the trio never displayed any remorse over the horrible deaths of their children throughout the trial and sentencing.

The crime has started a political firestorm in UK because of Philpott's lifestyle and actions, primarily fathering 14 children without ever holding a job.  All of his bizarre activities as well as his housing and subsistance were supported by welfare payments without any restriction on how they were earned or used.

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