Mother guilty over fire deaths of four sons

A woman has been found guilty of the manslaughter of her four sons who died in a house fire while she was out shopping.

Deveca Rose, 30, had left her two sets of twins alone when a fire ripped through her house in Sutton, south-west London, on the evening of 16 December 2021.

Kyson, Bryson, Leyton and Logan were unable to escape the locked house and died under a bed, her trial at the Old Bailey heard.

Rose was found not guilty of a single count of child cruelty.

The guilty verdict was reached with a majority of 11 to one among the jurors after more than three hours of deliberations.

Judge Mark Lucraft KC called it was a “tragic case”.

The family had been living in squalor, surrounded by rubbish and human excrement, before the tragedy, the trial had heard.

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.”

Rose had gone to the supermarket, leaving her four boys at the rented home before a cigarette or tea light in the living room sparked a fire.

The boys were trapped and ran upstairs calling for help.

A neighbour tried to break down the front door before firefighters went in and found the children’s bodies under beds.

They were treated at the scene and taken to hospital but attempts to save them failed and they died later that night.

The cause of death was inhalation of fire fumes.

Rose was granted bail and will be sentenced on 15 November.