Fundraising appeal for police officer who lost family in fire nears £200,000

A fundraising appeal for a police officer who lost his wife and two children in a Boxing Day house fire has reached nearly £200,000.

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, seven, and four-year-old son Ohner.

Mr Shearman, an officer with Gloucestershire Constabulary, was taken to hospital for treatment but has since been discharged.

A GoFundMe fundraising campaign was launched on Sunday and since then more than 8,000 people have made donations totalling some £196,000.

The original £110,000 target has now been increased again, this time to £350,000.

Emergency services were called to a mid-terrace Cotswold stone cottage on Brimscombe Hill at about 3am on Boxing Day.

Mr and Mrs Shearman had been awoken by the fire and had attempted to reach their children in the rear bedroom.

The police officer smashed a bathroom window to try to access his children’s room from outside but was unable to do so.

Because of the severity of the fire Mr Shearman could not regain entry to the house through the bathroom window and also could not force open the ground floor doors.

Police believe the fire 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.

Temporary Chief Constable Maggie Blyth said the bodies of the two children and the family dog had now been recovered from the property.

The body of a woman in her late 30s had been recovered earlier.

“I wanted to take this opportunity to thank those agencies that have worked with Gloucestershire Constabulary, namely Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service, specialist fire services, the local authorities and the voluntary sector and thank them for the enduring and tenacious investigations that they have been part of over the last few days,” Ms Blyth said.

“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 last 24 hours in particular.

“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.”

Mr and Mrs Shearman were registered as living at the property.

Mrs Shearman ran bespoke handbag manufacturer Hide & Hammer making fashion accessories from leather and canvas.

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).”