Mum jailed for 10 years after four sons died in house fire while she went shopping

The family of four boys who died in a house fire said ‘justice has been done’ after their mum was jailed for 10 years for leaving them home alone to go shopping.

Deveca Rose, 30, left her two sets of twins alone in the unsafe terraced house in Sutton, south west London, when the huge blaze broke out on the evening of December 16, 2021.

Leyton and Logan Hoath, aged three, and four-year-olds Kyson and Bryson Hoath screamed out for help, and a neighbour desperately tried to break down the front door.

Firefighters found the bodies of the boys huddled under beds in the house which was full of rubbish and human excrement.

Rose, who had split up with her partner and suffered from mental health problems, was found guilty on four counts of manslaughter.

Judge Mark Lucraft KC said: ‘There are no words to describe this case other than a deeply tragic one.’

The children’s father, Dalton Hoath, said losing his four sons was ‘the worst day of my life’.

Mr Hoath, who had split up with Rose, added that he was ‘devastated’ and his world had been turned ‘upside down’ by the loss of his ‘young, boisterous lads’.

In a statement read by a relative on his behalf, he said: ‘Their lives had just begun but were cut so short. It was every parent’s worst nightmare.

‘I’m not a great talker but even if I was I could not put it in words. I simply want to join them.

‘I will never recover from losing my funny, beautiful boys. I have to fight for all of us left behind and live with this massive pain in my heart before I meet them again.’

Great grandmother Sally Johnson wept in court and she told of the ‘horror’ and ‘pain’ of her loss.

She said: ‘The thought of them crying and screaming out will haunt me forever. My only comfort is they are now together forever and need never be alone again. I’m afraid I will never be able to forgive.’

Step-grandmother Kerrie Hoath said the boys had been ‘cruelly taken away from us’.

Of Rose, she said: ‘The disregard she showed towards our boys has been echoed throughout this whole trial as our family had to endure three years of lies, delays and false narratives.

‘This time has been a nightmare and the toll it’s taken on our family cannot be overstated.

‘We have heard speculation the fire was caused by lights on a Christmas tree, false claims the boys were left with a babysitter.

‘We thank the jury for seeing past that and delivering us a true verdict.’

The judge noted Rose had already been to Sainsbury’s earlier that day and her return trip at the time of the fire was not to purchase any items that were essential or vital.

He told Rose: ‘You were not there and the children were too young to know what to do. As a result of what you did, they were all killed.’

The Old Bailey heard Rose and the children had been living in squalor, surrounded by rubbish and human excrement before the boy’s deaths.

There were no working toilets in the house, and buckets throughout the property were used instead.

The children had not attended school for three weeks before their deaths.

Prosecutor Kate Lumsdon KC had told the court: ‘There was rubbish thickly spread throughout the house. The toilet and the bath were full of rubbish and could not be used. Buckets and pots were used as toilets instead.’

Paternal great-grandmother Sally Johnson said: ‘I was aware that she would leave the boys by themselves in the house. When I asked her about this, she would say, “Oh no, I just went to the pop shop” which is a local shop just seven houses away.

‘I do not know how often this happened but I remember several times I phoned the house and Kyson answered the phone and told me, “mummy has gone to the pop shop”.’

Paternal step-grandmother Kerrie Hoath described the boys as ‘polite, carefree and very much loved’ but recalled Rose not allowing her into the house.

Rose hid her face with a thick padded hood as she appeared at the Old Bailey to be sentenced today.

When she arrived back at the property to the scene of the fire, she told firefighters she left her children in the care of a friend name Jade.

This prompted firefighters to go back into the house to search for her.

But police concluded she either did not exist or had not been at the house that day.

When a cigarette or tea light in the living room sparked a fire, the boys were trapped and ran upstairs calling for help.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at [email protected].

For more stories like this, check our news page.

MORE: Man left premature baby disabled and in constant pain after ‘monstrous’ attack

MORE: Hammersmith Bridge could stay closed until 2035

MORE: Pensioner, 75, stabbed to death ‘by man known to him’ in London home