Fashion designer and two children named as victims of Boxing Day house fire
Her husband made a desperate attempt to save his wife and kids
Fionnghuala Shearman, known to friends as Nu, pictured alongside husband Tom and son Ohner.(Image: Mirror)
A fashion designer and her two children have been named as the victims of a devastating house fire that destroyed their home in the early hours of Boxing Day.
Fionnghuala Shearman – known to friends as Nu – died alongside her children, Eve, aged seven, and four-year-old son Ohner, despite the efforts of her police officer husband to save his family.
Tom Shearman attempted to rescue his wife and two children but was beaten back by the severity of the fire and was taken to hospital for treatment. He has since been discharged.
Gloucestershire Police confirmed that the father was a serving officer with the force.
Emergency services were called to a mid-terrace Cotswold stone cottage on Brimscombe Hill, near Stroud in Gloucestershire, at about 3am on 26 December.
Emergency services at the scene in Brimscombe Hill, near Stroud
Detective Superintendent Ian Fletcher told reporters outside Gloucestershire Police HQ that Tom and Fionnghuala had been awoken by the fire and had attempted to reach their children in the rear bedroom.
“They have been unable to get to the back bedroom due to the voracity of the fire,” he said. “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.”
Police held a press conference on Monday morning (Image: PA )
Det Supt Fletcher added: “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.
The extent of the fire destroyed the roof, the ceilings and stairs of the property, as well as causing other significant internal damage.
Mrs Shearman ran bespoke handbag manufacturer Hide & Hammer making fashion accessories from leather and canvas fabric.
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A friend of the family told the Daily Mail that what happened was “absolutely shocking”. “We are all shellshocked to be honest with you,” they said. “We don’t know what happened (to cause the fire).”