A mother from London has been convicted of manslaughter in relation to a devastating house fire that took the lives of her four young children in December 2021.
Deveca Rose, 30, had left her two pairs of twin boys alone at home to go shopping at a local Sainsbury’s supermarket. Tragically, Leyton and Logan Hoath, aged three, and Kyson and Bryson Hoath, aged four, did not survive the fire that engulfed their terraced home in Sutton, South London.
The jury at the Old Bailey took slightly over three hours to deliver a verdict of guilty on four counts of manslaughter on October 3. Rose was acquitted of an additional charge of child cruelty.
The prosecution made the case that the fire was started by a discarded cigarette or an overturned tea light igniting a pile of rubbish in the living room, leading to a rapid spread of the fire throughout the cluttered house. The young boys were discovered unconscious under a bed in an upstairs bedroom, having died from smoke inhalation.
Court evidence painted a distressing picture of the conditions within the home. Witnesses reported observing human waste on the floors, pots and buckets used as makeshift toilets, and trash scattered throughout the house. The residence’s smoke alarm was found to be without batteries.
CCTV footage from the day of the fire showed Rose attempting to shop with all four children at Sainsbury’s. The video revealed her struggling to manage the boys, with two of them running around the aisles while she tried to keep the others in the shopping cart. Unable to finalize her purchase, Rose left the supermarket with the children.
About an hour prior to the fire, neighbors reported hearing Rose shouting at the children. She was then seen leaving for Sainsbury’s alone, locking the boys inside the house.
The fire broke out around 7 p.m., and neighbors heard the children’s desperate cries for help but were unable to gain entry to the burning building. Firefighters eventually retrieved the boys from the scene, but despite their best efforts, all four children were declared dead at the hospital shortly after.
Initially, Rose claimed that she had left the children under the care of a woman named Jade. This claim prompted firefighters to conduct a second search, but no evidence of another person was found. Police investigations also failed to locate anyone matching the description of the alleged caretaker.
The children’s father, Dalton Hoath, offered a statement to the court expressing his grief. “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 described his sons as “young, boisterous lads” who were well-mannered and well-behaved.
Hoath, who was not living with Rose and their children at the time, stated that he was “not aware” she had left them alone for “any length of time” or for any reason other than to get “supplies,” maintaining that she had generally been a “good mum.”
During the trial, information surfaced that social services had been involved with the family in the months leading up to the fatal incident. A general practitioner had raised concerns about the “chaotic home environment” in July 2021. Social workers who visited the property noted the accumulation of rubbish in the garden and a strong, unpleasant smell. However, the case was closed when Rose failed to participate in further meetings.
The court also learned that the children had not attended school for three months prior to the incident. School officials did not consider this absence unusual due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
The defense suggested that Rose might have been suffering from depression or a personality disorder at the time of the fire. However, the prosecution held that this did not absolve her of responsibility for the children’s deaths.
Rose’s sentencing is scheduled for November 15, 2024.