Stroud fire: £125,000 raised to help police officer after his wife and children die in fire
More than £125,000 has been raised in donations to help a police officer after his wife and two children died in a house fire on Boxing Day.
Tom Shearman attempted to rescue his family but was beaten back by the severity of the fire that destroyed his home in Brimscombe, near Stroud, Gloucestershire.
His wife, Fionnghuala Shearman, known as Nu, died alongside her children, Eve, aged seven, and four-year-old son Ohner.
Mr Shearman, an officer with Gloucestershire Police, was taken to hospital for treatment but has since been discharged.
A GoFundMe fundraising campaign was launched on Sunday and more than 5,000 people have made donations totalling over £125,000.
The original £110,000 target has since been increased to £190,000.
Emergency services were called to a mid-terrace Cotswold stone cottage on Brimscombe Hill at about 3am on Boxing Day.
Detective Superintendent Ian Fletcher said the mother and father were woken 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 ferocity 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.
“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 fire destroyed the roof, the ceilings and stairs, as well as causing other significant internal damage.
Mr Fletcher described the anguish the officer is going through at being unable to rescue his wife and children.
“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.”
Temporary Chief Constable Maggie Blyth said: “This is an unimaginable tragedy and my thoughts are with our colleague, along with all of those involved and impacted by what has happened.
“At a time when we are all acutely aware of family and the joys that they can bring, my heart breaks at the indescribable pain that they must be experiencing.”
Mrs Shearman ran bespoke handbag manufacturer Hide & Hammer making fashion accessories from leather and canvas fabric.
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 told the newspaper.
“We don’t know what happened (to cause the fire).”
Donations to the fundraising campaign can be made at: https://www.gofundme.com/f/helping-rebuild-after-an-unimaginable-loss