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Four little boys perished in a fire amidst refuse and human waste after their mother, Deveca Rose, abandoned them at home to visit Sainsbury’s, a court has been informed.
Deveca Rose, another lying British child killer, 29, is being tried for the manslaughter of her two pairs of twins, Leyton and Logan Hoath, aged three, and Kyson and Bryson Hoath, aged four, as well as for child cruelty.
Four children die in the fire
The four children perished following a fire ignited by a discarded cigarette or an overturned tea light in their terraced residence in Sutton, south London.
The lads reportedly ascended the stairs and called for assistance but could not exit the locked residence and perished beneath a bed, as stated at the Old Bailey.
Prosecutor Kate Lumsdon KC said: “It is the Crown’s case that Ms Deveca Rose left her children unattended when she went to Sainsbury’s that evening.
“She either dropped a lit cigarette before she left, left tea lights burning, or both. A fire started on or under the sofa, and due to the amount of rubbish in the house, it took hold quickly.
“The children were, we suggest, locked in the house and could not escape. They ran upstairs to escape the fire and shouted to the neighbours. But it was too late for anything to be done.”
The children lived in filth and faeces
Although the defendant ensured the children were well turned out, in reality, they lived in “deplorable conditions”, and Rose rejected offers of help from family and social services, jurors were told.
The prosecutor said: “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.”
The evidence suggested Deveca Rose was likely depressed and may have suffered from a personality disorder, but Ms Lumsdon said that was not a defence.
Opening Deveca Rose’s Old Bailey trial on Monday, Ms Lumsdon told how the defendant was a single mother, having split up with the boys’ father, Dalton Hoath.
Social services knew and did nothing
The court was told how the children were known to social services, but their case was closed three months before their deaths.
Members of the children’s paternal family had concerns, and their paternal grandmother had not visited the house often as Deveca Rose was “cagey” about letting her in, jurors were told.
After inappropriate behaviour was raised at school, social services intervened between July and September 2021, jurors heard.
On a visit in July 2021, a social worker found rubbish at the house, a “very strong unpleasant smell”, and was worried that Deveca Rose had not taken care of herself.
Jurors were told Deveca Rose did not engage in further planned home visits, and the case was closed in September 2021.
The children had not been to school for 3 weeks
The children had not attended school for three weeks before the fire on December 16 2021.
At about 6.30 pm, Deveca Rose left the children unattended at the house in Collingwood Road and went to Sainsbury’s, jurors were told.
While she was away, neighbours realised the house was on fire and could hear the children inside, and the door was shut, Ms Lumsdon said.
She told jurors: “A neighbour kicked in the door, but the fire had taken hold to the extent that it was impossible to enter.
“The fire brigade were called. Many units attended. Using appropriate protective clothing and breathing apparatus, firemen put out the fire and entered the house.
The buys huddled together under a bed
“They found the four boys under a bed in the upstairs front room. They were limp and unconscious.
“Firemen noted that there was rubbish all over the house floor and human excrement. There was a mattress and a door on the stairs.”
Attempts to save the children were made on the pavement outside, but jurors were told there was nothing that could be done, and they were pronounced dead in hospital.
The cause of death was later given as inhalation of fire fumes.
The defendant, Deveca Rose, returned from the supermarket as firefighters were still tackling the blaze, and a neighbour took her in.
The boys father was involved
Jurors were told the boys’ father had also gone to the scene.
Ms Lumsdon said Deveca Rose had claimed she left the children with a woman called Jade, which prompted firefighters to go back into the house to search for her.
But the prosecutor told jurors there was no sign of the friend, and extensive inquiries had led to the “firm conclusion” that Jade either did not exist or played no part in the events of that evening.
Deveca Rose lies and lies some more
Following her arrest, Deveca Rose maintained in a prepared statement that she had left the children in the care of a friend called Jade.
Ms Lumsdon said: “Despite following all the leads provided by Ms Deveca Rose and conducting their investigations, the police could find no trace of Jade.”
A fire investigation found the blaze was caused by a discarded cigarette or upturned tea light candle near the sofa in the downstairs front room and spread by igniting rubbish on the floor.
Jurors were told that there were numerous cigarette ends, lighters, tea lights and incense sticks – and the property was 20cm deep in rubbish.
Deveca Rose, of Wallington, south London, has denied the charges against her, and the trial continues.
Manslaughter – Guilty
Thanks to the useless English Justice System the act of setting fire to your home whilst you children are locked inside whilst you go shopping is manslaughter!
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