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 arrived home while firefighters were still tackling the blaze and she was taken in by a neighbour.
She had claimed she left the children with a friend called Jade, which prompted firefighters to go back into the house to search for her.
Police carried out extensive inquiries to find Jade and concluded she either did not exist or had not been at the house that day.
In police interviews, Rose admitted leaving the boys alone in the house on two earlier occasions.
