A mother in London has been convicted of manslaughter related to a fatal house fire in December 2021. The incident led to the tragic death of her four young sons.
Thirty-year-old Deveca Rose left her four twin boys, aged three and four, alone at home to go shopping at a nearby Sainsbury’s supermarket. The victims, Leyton, Logan, Kyson, and Bryson Hoath, lost their lives in the fire which consumed their terraced house in Sutton, South London.
After approximately three hours of deliberation, the jury at Old Bailey convicted Rose on four counts of manslaughter on October 3. However, Rose was acquitted of an additional charge of child cruelty.
The prosecution proposed that a discarded cigarette or an overturned tea light ignited a pile of rubbish in the living room, rapidly spreading the fire throughout the house. The boys were found unconscious under a bed in an upstairs room, having suffocated from smoke inhalation.
The court was presented with evidence depicting the dire living conditions inside the home. Testimonies described human feces on the floors, pots and buckets serving as makeshift toilets, and garbage scattered throughout the house. The smoke detector was found to be without batteries.
On the day of the fire, CCTV captured Rose trying to shop at Sainsbury’s with her four children. The footage showed her struggling to manage the boys, with two running around the store while she attempted to keep the others in the shopping cart. Unable to finish her shopping, Rose left the supermarket with the children.
About an hour before the fire started, neighbors reported hearing Rose shouting at the children. She was later seen leaving for Sainsbury’s alone, leaving the children locked inside the house.
The fire broke out around 7 p.m., and neighbors could hear the children’s desperate pleas for help but were unable to enter the burning building. Firefighters managed to extract the boys from the house, but sadly, all four were later declared dead at the hospital.
Rose initially claimed that she had entrusted the children to a woman named Jade. This led firefighters to conduct a second search of the premises, but no evidence of another person was discovered. Police investigations also couldn’t locate anyone matching the description of the alleged babysitter.
The boys’ father, Dalton Hoath, expressed his deep grief in a statement to the court. “After being taken to the hospital, it became clear that all four of my children had not made it and that my world had been turned upside down,” he said. Hoath characterized his sons as “young, boisterous lads” who were well-mannered and well-behaved.
Hoath, who was not living with Rose and their children, added that he was “not aware” that she had left them alone for “any length of time” or for any reason other than to get “supplies” and generally, she had been a “good mum.”
The trial revealed that social services had interacted with the family in the months leading up to the incident. A general practitioner had raised concerns about the “chaotic home environment” in July 2021. Social workers who visited the house reported rubbish piled up in the garden and a strong, unpleasant smell. However, the case was closed when Rose failed to attend further meetings.
The court also learned that the children had not been to school for three months before the incident. School officials did not see this absence as unusual due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Rose’s defense team suggested that she might have been suffering from depression or a personality disorder at the time of the fire. However, the prosecution contended that this did not excuse her from responsibility for the children’s deaths.
Rose is due to be sentenced on November 15, 2024.
