Dawn Bestwick, 53, said she had effectively 'buried' her brother today Shameless father-of-17 jailed for life with minimum term of 15 years By Andy Dolan, Steve Robson and Simon Tomlinson The sister of shameless Mick Philpott last night said he 'deserved to die' after watching him jailed for life for the manslaughter of his six children. Dawn Bestwick said she had effectively 'buried' her brother and would never forgive the 56-year-old for setting the fire with wife Mairead, 32, and their friend and co-defendant Paul Mosley, 46. She branded her brother a 'coward' who did nothing to save his children and escaped the blaze without even a 'cough', more concerned with saving his own skin as his children 'were taking their last breaths'. Fury: Mick Philpott's sister Dawn Bestwick said her brother 'deserves to die' after being convicted of causing the deaths of his six children Mrs Bestwick, 53, dismissed the 17-year sentences handed down to Mairead and Mosley - which will see them released on licence at the half-way point - as a 'pittance and an 'insult to the children's memory'. Philpott strutted from the dock amid a cacophony of abuse led by Mrs Bestwick, who screamed 'Die Mick, Die'. Mairead's sister, Bernadette Duffy, shouted 'you murdering b*******'. In one final act of defiance he laughed at the insults and responded with obscene hand gestures. Mrs Justice Thirlwall had told him he was a 'disturbingly dangerous man' who lacked a 'moral compass'. She ordered Philpott to serve a minimum of 15 years before he could be considered for parole - equivalent to just two-and-a-half years for each dead child. The Philpotts, who married in May 2003, have already served 307 days in custody since their arrest, meaning he could theoretically be freed after 14 years and 58 days. Mrs Bestwick told ITV News Philpott had destroyed her family's love because 'he thought it was his right to play with their (the children's) lives'. She said: 'They were good kids. Lovely kids. Well fed, clean, very happy children. They didn't deserve the card they got. They had a life. He took that from them. I hate him, I hate him so much. He has hurt us so much. It's not fair. 'He doesn't deserve to breathe God's air. He deserves to die for what he did. And so do the other two. It was so cruel. 'Even if he could have rescued those children, the fear they would've felt. It's not human. All three should rot in hell for what they did. Those children live on forever in our hearts. But not him. None of them will. They're dead to us.' Philpott showed no emotion as the sentence was handed down, but as his wife - who had sobbed quietly throughout the proceedings - was then told her fate, he shook his head and theatrically loosened his cerise tie. He then appeared to begin sobbing and crumpled into his seat with his head in his hands. The judge told Philpott: "Your guiding principle is what Mick Philpott wants Mick Philpott gets." She said that ever since the fatal blaze last May his grief had been 'simulated' for the public gaze as part of a 'performance', punctuated by fake collapses in front of the jury, police, and hospital medics which were "designed to evoke sympathy where none is merited." She described him as the "driving force" and "kingpin" behind a "wicked and dangerous" plan to set the family home ablaze in order to frame Philpott's former live-in mistress, Lisa Willis. The 29-year-old had dared to walk out on Philpott three months earlier - taking the five children they had raised together with her and the tens of thousands of pounds in benefit money and wages she and the children were worth to him. Mrs Bestwick said Mairead had 'failed as a mother and a human' in choosing to help in Philpott's plan regardless of the risk to her own children. Last night - a local MP said Philpott deserved to "rot in jail" for his crime while a former close friend branded his potential minimum term a "disgrace." An online petition calling for the sentences to be markedly increased had also attracted more than 1,000 signatories on the change.org website. During an eight week trial at Nottingham Crown Court, the Philpott's sordid lifestyle of drugs, public sex and threesomes was laid bare. Jurors were told heard how for more than a decade, violent and domineering Philpott had lived with his wife and Miss Willis and their 11 children in total. Between them, the women - both part-time cleaners and described as Philpott's "chattels" by the judge - generated almost £60,000 a year in benefits and wages which Philpott had paid straight into his own bank account, leaving them to survive on a "pittance." Within weeks of Miss Willis escaping the dysfunctional family set up - under the pretence of taking her children swimming, Philpott started plotting his revenge. He began telling friends and acquaintances that his former mistress, who with the children is now living in a new town under assumed identities, that she had threatened to firebomb the house and that he had devised a "plan" to deal with her. He set the fire at the council house in Derby hours before he was due to face Miss Willis, 29, in a county court custody hearing which was expected to confirm the children should remain with his former lover. The judge said that while the defendants may not have intended to kill the six children, Mick Philpott "plainly" intended to subject them to a "terrifying ordeal" in which they would be woken from their beds so Philpott 'could rescue them and be the hero.' She told him the children's 'terror was the price they were going to pay for your callous selfishness'. In fact, they had paid with their 'six young lives'. She said he could not be the "good father" suggested by his barrister when he had lied to the police and lied to the jury as part of a continuing "performance" which had stretched as far as his conviction in court. It was plain, the judge said, that his children were important to him, but only because the sheer size of his family helped heap and keep attention upon him. The Philpotts and Mosley, who had enjoyed threesomes with the couple both before and after the fire, were all found guilty on Tuesday of the manslaughter of Jade Philpott, 10, and her brothers John, nine, Jack, eight, Jesse, six, Jayden, five, and Duwayne, 13. Outside court, Nigel Mills MP, Conservative MP for Amber Valley in Derbyshire said "Life should mean life" for people like Philpott. He added: "I would be quite happy if they locked him up and threw away the key. The other two have committed serious crimes and have been given their sentences but it seems obvious he was the ringleader in all this. All I can hope is that he is left to rot in jail and never sees the light of day again. Shadow minister without portfolio Lord Wood, a senior adviser to Labour leader Ed Miliband, said on Twitter: 'I can't help but feel it's wrong for Osborne to exploit our horror at the Philpott case to try to boost public support for cutting welfare.' Mick Russell, a former close friend of Philpott, said he hoped the prosecution would appeal to have their sentences increased. He said: "It's a disgrace that he's only been given two-and-a-half years for each child he killed. How can that be justice? As for Mairead and Mosley, they have basically got away with it. I took Mick to the morgue to identify the children and I hugged him as he cried. If I knew then what I know now, I'd be doing time for murder. Philpott's neighbour Adam Taylor - who the killer attempted to implicate in the blaze by lending a petrol strimmer a week before the fire - added: "I don't think there will be many people around here who would have complained if there was a death sentence for Mick Philpott." The judge said there was no legal precedent for the what she termed a "uniquely grave set of offences" and said it would be for the parole board to decide if Philpott should ever be released. Derbyshire Police said none of the defendants had shown any remorse for killing the children. A week before the fire, Mick Philpott had appeared in court and admitted common assault but denied dangerous driving after punching another driver who he thought had pulled out in front of him at a roundabout. Former Government minister Ann Widdecombe said Philpott's "shameless" lifestyle was fuelled by a welfare system which encouraged him to have children for the benefit money they generated The former Tory MP, who spent a week living with the Philpott family for a television documentary, said the father of 17 treated his offspring as "meal tickets." Tough terms: The judge, Mrs Justice Thirwall, said the offences were so serious that she had no choice but to impose lengthy prison sentences Mrs Justice Thirwall said: 'This is a unique sentencing exercise.