A mother and her two young children died in a Boxing Day house fire in Gloucestershire, despite the father's desperate attempts to rescue his family from the burning home. Tom Shearman, a serving police officer, survived the blaze but was forced back by the intensity of the flames as he tried repeatedly to reach his wife and children trapped inside.
Fionnghuala Shearman, 38, and her children Eve, seven, and Ohner, four, perished in the fire that broke out around 3am at their mid-terrace Cotswold stone cottage on Brimscombe Hill, near Stroud. The fire is believed to have started on the ground floor before spreading rapidly through the property, causing the roof, ceilings and stairs to collapse.
Detective Superintendent Ian Fletcher described the father's frantic rescue efforts at a briefing outside Gloucestershire Police headquarters. The couple woke to the fire and attempted to reach their children in a rear bedroom. «They have been unable to get to the back bedroom due to the voracity of the fire,» Fletcher said.
Tom Shearman smashed his way through a bathroom window and tried to access the children's bedroom from outside. «He has been unable to enter the property via that bedroom window,» Fletcher explained. The officer then attempted to re-enter through the bathroom window, but «by which stage the fire has taken hold in the bathroom and he's unable to get back into the upstairs bedrooms.»
He made a final desperate attempt to force entry through the front and back doors. «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,» Fletcher said. Emergency services arrived as these attempts failed and began managing the blaze.
Investigation ongoing
Gloucestershire Police confirmed the incident is not being treated as suspicious. «This would appear to be a tragic accident that's occurred in the early hours of Boxing Day,» Fletcher said. The surviving officer is cooperating with investigators to understand what happened.
Fletcher described the profound impact on the father: «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.» The officer was taken to hospital for treatment and remains «in a very distraught way,» having «sadly, lost his family at a time which is supposed to be a happy festive period.»
Family background
Fionnghuala Shearman, born in Cheltenham, ran Hide & Hammer, a business creating bespoke canvas and leather bags. The company had recently announced the indefinite closure of its workshop. The couple, married for around a decade, were both keen runners and regularly shared family photos on social media.
A friend told the Daily Mail: «We are all shellshocked to be honest with you.» The friend described the incident as «absolutely shocking» and said: «We don't know what happened [to cause the fire].»
Police support
Nathaniel Hooton, deputy chief fire officer of Gloucestershire Fire & Rescue Service, said crews faced an «extremely challenging» situation. «It was extremely challenging and they were faced with a well-developed serious fire on arrival,» he said, adding that firefighters «tried their hardest to get in there and do whatever was necessary.»
The Gloucestershire Police Federation described the event as an «unimaginable tragedy to have struck a colleague and their family and our hearts are broken for them.» A spokesman added: «The federation are offering as much support as is possible to our colleague at this deeply saddening time.»
The bodies of the mother and one child have been recovered, with formal identification pending. Emergency services are working to recover the second child's body, but the property's unstable condition has complicated efforts. The coroner has been notified of the deaths.
Note: This article was created with Artificial Intelligence (AI).
