Stroud Boxing Day fire victims named as bodies recovered

A mother and her two young children who died in a house fire on Boxing Day have been named locally.

Seven-year-old Eve, four-year-old Ohner, and their mother, Fionnghuala Shearman died after a fire engulfed their mid-terrace Cotswold home on Brimscombe Hill in Stroud, at about 03:00 GMT on Friday.

Tom Shearman, a serving police officer with Gloucestershire Constabulary, escaped the burning house and tried multiple times to re-enter to save his family.

Mrs Shearman’s body was recovered on Sunday and Gloucestershire Police’s Interim Chief Constable Maggie Blyth confirmed on Tuesday both children’s bodies and that of the family dog have now been recovered.

Ms Blyth added: “I and all of the organisation will continue to support our officer and his family over what continues to be a very, very difficult period at a very, very difficult time of the year.

“We’re in very close contact with him.”

The couple were woken by the fire, which broke out on the ground floor, in the early hours of Boxing Day.

Mr Shearman smashed his way out of the house through a bathroom window to try to access the children’s bedroom via the outside, but was unable to re-enter the building due to the intensity of the blaze.

Police confirmed there were no suspicious circumstances surrounding the cause.

The blaze has completely destroyed the house, causing the roof and stairs of the stone cottage to collapse.

Since the blaze, the community has rallied together to support Mr Shearman.

A fundraiser has reached more than £200,000 in two days, with donations and condolences flooding in.

Holy Trinity Church in Brimscombe will remain open to allow people to “grieve together” in the wake of the “terrible tragedy”, Rev Peter Francis told BBC West.

Ms Blyth said the community’s support has helped the force during this difficult period.

“I particularly wanted to thank our public – our communities in Gloucestershire – that have shown me and my officers and staff huge compassion and huge kindness over the past 24 hours in particular and the past few days,” Ms Blyth added.

“That kindness and compassion from the public has really enabled our workforce to keep delivering a service over this Christmas and New Year period – at a time when such an awful tragedy has sent shockwaves through the organisation.”