Deveca Rose claimed she left her sons in the care of a friend who investigators found no trace of, a court heard (Picture:

Four boys were found under a bed surrounded by rubbish and human waste in a house fire that killed them in South London.

Their mother Deveca Rose, 29, had left them home alone while she went to Sainsbury’s around 6.30pm on December 16, 2021, a court heard.

She is on trial for child cruelty and the manslaughter of her two sets of twins – Leyton and Logan Hoath, aged three, and four-year-olds Kyson and Bryson.

Neighbours could hear them inside the burning building on Collingwood Road, Sutton, prosecutor Kate Lumsdon KC told the Old Bailey.

But the four children were ‘limp and unconscious’ when firefighters reached them.

Ms Lumsdon said: ‘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.

‘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 floor of the house and human excrement. There was a mattress and a door on the stairs.’

The four boys smile and hold hands for a photo along a path beside grass.
Kyson and Bryson Hoath, aged four, and three-year-olds Leyton and Logan were found under a bed

The four boys were pronounced dead in hospital after efforts to save them on the pavement failed.