Mum and children who died in Boxing Day fire named

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.

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

Ms 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.

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

Ms Blyth, added: "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.

"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.

"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," she added.

Mrs Shearman and her husband were woken by the fire in the early hours of Boxing Day.

He was able to break out through the bathroom window to try and reach their children in the back bedroom, but was unable due to the heat.

He made several further attempts to save his children and wife but the fire made this impossible.

Police confirmed the fire began on the ground floor and there were not believed to be any suspicious circumstances surrounding the cause.

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