Mother jailed for 10 years over deaths of her four children in Sutton house fire
Deveca Rose was found guilty by a jury for the manslaughter of her four children.
Last updated 24th Jan 2025
A mother has been sentenced to 10 years for the manslaughter of her four sons who died in a house fire while she left them to go shopping.
30-year-old Deveca Rose left her two sets of twins alone in her house in Sutton when a fire broke out on the 16th of December 2021.
Leyton and Logan Hoath, aged three, and four-year-olds Kyson and Bryson Hoath were locked in the house and died whilst under a bed.
During the trial at the Old Bailey, the court heard how the family home was full of rubbish and human excrement.
At the time of the fire outbreak, Deveca Rose had gone to the supermarket and arrived home as firefighters were tackling the blaze.
She claimed she had left the children with a friend called Jade, which lead the firefighters to go back into the house to search for them.
After the police investigation, they concluded Jade either did not exist, or was not in the house that day.
During interviews, Rose admitted to leaving her children alone in the house on two previous occasions.
The cause of death for the boys was found to be inhalation of fire fumes.
Statements read in court from the boys' Dad and Great Grandmother
Earlier, the boys' father Dalton Hoath said losing his four sons - Leyton and Logan, aged three and four-year-olds Kyson and Bryson - was "the worst day of my life".
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."
Quoting her great grandsons' favourite word, she said: "Why? Just why?"
Deveca Rose has been sentenced to 10 years in prison.