00:00You were convicted of four counts of unlawful act manslaughter.
00:04The basis of the case was that you went out, leaving four boys unattended in the unsafe conditions of the house,
00:12that you abandoned them.
00:14Had you been at home when a fire started, you may have been able to extinguish it,
00:19or if not, you would have been able to get the children safely out of the house,
00:23but you were not there, and the children were too young to know what to do.
00:29As a result of what you did, they were all killed.
00:33There are no other words to describe this case as anything other than a deeply tragic one.
00:40The lives of four young children, gone in just a few moments through an intense fire.
00:46Photographs from before the fire show four lively and engaging boys.
00:52I have no doubt they were, or could be, a handful,
00:56but as family as well as staff from school and nursery speak, the care and love you showed them is clear.
01:03It is of significance that you were acquitted of an offence of neglect,
01:08as that, in my view, reflects that the jury found you were otherwise doing your very best to care for the children,
01:14despite the appalling condition of the house that you were living in.
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