A mother who left her four sons to die in a burning room full of waste and droppings while going to Sainsbury's was sentenced to ten years in prison.
Deveca Rose left her two twins in the closed terraced house in Sutton, South London, when the fatal fire broke out on the evening of December 16, 2021.
The 30-year-old defendant, who had separated with her partner and had psychological problems, was found guilty of four cases of manslaughter after a trial in Old Bailey last fall.
Today, Rose, who was free during her trial on bail, sobbed her head in the Koornenbank in Court One when she was sentenced to 10 years in prison by Judge Mark Lucrraft KC.
The judge said: 'There are no other words to describe this case than a very tragic one before adding:' the last moments of their young life would be accompanied by acute physical suffering when the fire grabbed around and they tried to escape from it . ''
Earlier, the father of the boys, Dalton Hath, said that the loss of his four sons – Kyson and Bryson Hath, four years old, and Leyton and Logan Hath, three years old – was 'the worst day of my life'.
In a statement that a family member read on his behalf, he said: 'Their lives had only just begun, but was kept so short. It was the worst nightmare of every parent.
'I am not a great talker, but even if I was, I could not put it into words. I just want to join them. I will never recover from the loss of my funny, beautiful guys. I have to fight for all of us who are left behind and live with this enormous pain in my heart before I meet them again. “
Deveca Ros left her two twins in the closed terraced house when the fatal fire broke out on the evening of December 16, 2021
Kyson and Bryson Hath, four years old, died together with their brothers, Leyton and Logan Hath, three years old, in their house in Sutton, Zuid-Londen, in December 2021.
Firefighters wore the four boys from the burning building, but short time later they were all declared dead
He also told how he cried or stayed in bed and 'often' almost jumped from a bridge in the days after he had lost his sons.
Judge Lucrraft KC said that the victims were left alone by their mother in an 'unsafe' house when a fire broke out, probably caused by a tealight.
The judge noted that Rose had already been to Sainsbury's earlier that day and that her return journey at the time of the fire was not meant to buy things that were 'essential or vital'.
He said to 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. “
He continued: “The last moments of their young life would be accompanied by acute physical suffering when the fire grabbed around and they tried to escape.”
The court had previously heard how Rose and the children had lived in misery before the tragedy, surrounded by waste and human excrement.
Prosecutor Kate Lumsdon KC had said to the court: 'There was waste spread throughout the house. The toilet and the bath were full of junk and could not be used. Buckets and pots were used as toilets. ”
Rose had gone to the supermarket and left the boys in the rented house in Sutton, in the southwest of London.
When a cigarette or tealight in the living room caused a fire, the boys got stuck and ran up to call for help.
A neighbor tried to break open the front door before firefighters entered with breathing equipment and found the children's bodies under the beds.
They were rushed to two separate hospitals, but attempts to save them failed and later that evening they died by breathing in vapors.
Rose came home while the fire brigade was still fighting the fire and was taken care of by a neighbor.
She claimed that she had left the children with a friend named Jade, which encouraged the fire brigade to go back into the house to look for her.
The police did extensive investigation to find Jade and came to the conclusion that she had not existed that day or had not been to the house.
Mr. Justice Lucrraft during the conviction of Deveca Rose, 30, in the Old Bailey in London
Darren Woodhams, a fire investigator at the London fire brigade, discovered that the fire was created by a discarded cigarette or an inverted tealight, so that waste on the floor set on fire and then a couch in the living room.
In police interrogations, Rose admitted that she had left the boys alone in the house twice before.
Jury members were told that social worker Georgia Singh had expressed worries about the family, but the case was closed for the fire for three months.
Earlier, a health visitor had also expressed her worries, but the jury members were told after her retirement.
The children had not been to school three weeks before their death.
Rose from Wallington, Zuid-London, attended a large part of the process on medical advice via a video connection from home and refused to testify for defense.
The court heard that there were indications that she was probably depressed and possibly suffered from a personality disorder, but the prosecutor claimed that this was not a defense.
To mitigate, her lawyer Laurie-Anne Power KC struggled that struggled with 'complex psychiatric mental health care needs'.
She said to the court: 'I can't say anything to alleviate the loss for the Hath and Rose family.
“Although she is criminal responsible for the death of those children, she has suffered the greatest loss of all.”
After the verdict was announced, a woman rushed out of the courtroom and was heard crying when she was led away, Sky reports.
The judge described the victims as lively and committed children who were 'deeply loved' to everyone who played a role in their care.
Rose, depicted outside the Old Bailey, was found guilty after a trial in the Old Bailey
Deveca Rose (right) leaves the Bromley Magistrates' Court, South London, where it was accused of four cases of manslaughter
In a victim statement that was read to the court, the grandfather of the victims, Jason Hath said: 'It is almost three years ago that we lost our great, cheerful grandsons at the young age of three and four.
“The pain of this loss has destroyed my life in every possible way.”
He said it was “too painful to describe” that they were stuck in an inferno and that it was “devastating” when the boys later died in the hospital after “fought so bravely.”
The aunt of the boys, Casey Hath, read her explanation in court and described her nephews as 'funny' and 'characterful'.
“This was my worst nightmares scenario with the people I love,” she said.
In a victim statement, great -grandmother Sally Johnson quoted the 'favorite word – why' from her great -grandson when she told about her heartbreak when she lost them.
Hukend, she said: 'The thought that they would cry and scream will chase me forever. My only comfort is that they are now together forever and never have to be alone again.
“I'm afraid I will never be able to forgive … I would like to say their favorite word: why? Why?'
She told the court that her great -grandchildren were her 'whole world', and added: “The horror, the pain stays with me three years later.”
The judge accepted that Rose was the person in the dock and that there was a medical reason why she did not show her face.
