Michael Philpott (born 1956) is a British convicted killer who was found guilty in April 2013 of causing the deaths of six of his children by arson the previous May. Philpott, who had made several media appearances because of his benefits-funded lifestyle and polyamorous relationships, was sentenced to life imprisonment for the manslaughter of his children. The media had previously reported on his large family (seventeen children by multiple women), and his reliance on state benefits.