Mick Philpott displays all the common signs of sociopathic behaviour, and that's what made him risk his children's lives, not being an unemployed council tenant.

The Daily Mail's recent front page article about child killer Mick Philpott has provoked widespread disgust and condemnation.  In his poorly researched story, A N Wilson states there are not dozens, not hundreds, but tens of thousands [of people just like Philpott] in our country.  As often seems to be the case with the Daily Mail, there is no actual evidence to support this shocking claim that there are tens of thousands of fathers up and down the country who would put their own families in mortal danger, without giving it a second thought; this is just A N Wilson's bizarre and bigoted view of what people who live in council houses are like. 

Mick Philpott didn't kill his own children because he didn't have a job, or because he had a large family, but most likely because he displays all the common signs of being a sociopath, which are:

• Impulsive nature, bizarre decisions often without any serious thought to consequences
• Obsession with winning at all costs and a need to dominate others
• Ability to charm people, superficially charismatic, often come across as enigmatic and sexy (just as with Fred West, women seem to find Philpott charming, a loveable rogue!)
• Absolute refusal to take responsibility, or acknowledge that they're wrong
• Lack of remorse, shame or guilt - would never say sorry for anything, because they're convinced they do nothing wrong - if bad things happen, it's always someone else's fault
• Pathological lying - they're expert storytellers and will speak very movingly about terrible things that have happened to them, which tends to be all complete lies,but people warm to them
• Grandiose sense of self, delusion that they are special or gifted and everyone admires them
• Sexual promiscuity, often high sex drive associated with mania and strange sexual fetishes
• Incapable of love, due to total lack of empathy, associated with extreme neglect in childhood.  Though superficially they can come across as loving - it's just acting a role to get what they want
• No consideration for the impact of their cruelty on others, inability to connect their actions with someone else's suffering
• Intelligent, at least in specific ways, ability to intuit someone's weakpoint and use this to manipulate them. Often ability to retain facts and figures and pick things up quickly, which gives them the illusion of being bright, capable, confident, genuine and trustworthy.
• Lack of realistic life plan, wild dreams about what they're going to do and who with with no evidence whether this might be possible - as soon as they think it or say it, it becomes fact to them
• Often a history of suffering abuse in childhood, including sexual abuse, which causes the mind to split bits of the personality off and switch feelings off, so abuse no longer hurts
• If things do go horribly wrong as a result of their actions, they'll shamelessly play the victim because they lack the courage to acknowledge responsibility
• Ability to switch personas, depending on who they're dealing with and what they need from that person.  None of the adopted personas are real, but roles they've learned to act out to get their own way.  There is no real sense of self. 

In prison he may need to invent a new persona, to ingratiate himself to fellow inmates, to avoid the inevitable hostility being a child killer will attract.  If he can't win admirers in prison, he might become a recluse and shut himself off from his surroundings, something he may have learned to do in childhood if he suffered abuse.  With a personality which has such a driving obsession with being in control, suicide is always a concern - after all, this is the last and most powerful way of taking ultimate control.