Fionnghuala Shearman and her children Eve and Ohner died in the fire while husband Tom remains in hospital
Three people who died in a house fire during the early hours of Boxing Day have been pictured for the first time. Fionnghuala Shearman, known to friends as Nu, and her children Eve, seven, and Ohner, four, died in the fire at their home on Brimscombe Hill, near Stroud.
Tom Shearman, Fionnghuala’s husband, survived the fire but remains in hospital. The serving Gloucestershire Police officer tried to save his family but as beaten back by the severity of the fire.
Emergency services were called to the scene at around 3am on Friday, Boxing Day, after the fire broke out.
Speaking to our sister title, the Mirror, Detective Superintendent Ian Fletcher of Gloucestershire Police said that the parents had been awoken by the fire and had attempted to reach their children in the rear bedroom.
He said: “They have been unable to get to the back bedroom due to the voracity of the fire.
“The father has smashed his way out of the house through a bathroom window in order to try to access the children’s bedroom via the outside. He has been unable to enter the property via that bedroom window.
“He has then tried to re-enter the property through the bathroom window, by which stage the fire has taken hold in the bathroom and he’s unable to get back into the upstairs bedrooms. He has subsequently gone downstairs and tried to force entry via the front and the back door but has been unable to get back inside to the property.
“It is at this point our colleagues from emergency services have attended and have started managing and dealing with that fire.” Mr Fletcher said the fire was believed to have started on the ground floor and investigations were ongoing to establish the cause, but it was not being treated as suspicious.
Mrs Shearman, originally from Cheltenham, who had run a business called Hide and Hammer making bags, regularly posted photographs of her family on social media, and is understood to have been a keen runner alongside her husband.
The extent of the fire caused the roof of the mid-terrace Cotswold stone cottage to fall in and the ceilings and stairs have collapsed. “We are not treating this as a suspicious incident at this time,” Mr Fletcher said. “This would appear to be a tragic accident that’s occurred in the early hours of Boxing Day.
“The surviving member of this family is a serving police officer at Gloucestershire Constabulary and again our hearts and prayers go out to him and all of his colleagues who know him very well. He is working with us to try to understand what exactly has happened within that property.”
Mr Fletcher added: “We have multiple witnesses who describe the anguish that he was going through, his inability to get in and save his children and save his wife. He is, as you can imagine, in a very distraught way. Sadly, lost his family at a time which is supposed to be a happy festive period.”
Nathaniel Hooton, deputy chief fire officer of Gloucestershire Fire & Rescue Service, said the house was well ablaze when crews arrived. “It was extremely challenging and they were faced with a well-developed serious fire on arrival,” he said. “Trying to make their way into the building, trying to rescue the occupants within that building, and also dealing with everything else that was going on.
“They tried their hardest to get in there and do whatever was necessary, and they continue to work extremely hard to support the recovery of the unfortunate loss of life.”
A spokesman for the Gloucestershire Police Federation, which represents rank and file officers, said: “This is an unimaginable tragedy to have struck a colleague and their family and our hearts are broken for them. It is impossible for us all to properly comprehend and come to terms with what has happened.
“The Federation are offering as much support as is possible to our colleague at this deeply saddening time. We are also supporting devastated colleagues and teammates of the officer concerned. We know the whole police family across the UK – indeed the whole of the UK – will be offering their condolences. And we thank those who have already passed on their thoughts and support. It is appreciated.”
