This is the mother of two who died in a Boxing Day house fire along with her children - as her police officer husband remains in hospital after escaping. 

Fionnghuala Shearman, known to friends as Nu, perished alongside daughter Eve, seven, and son Ohner, four, as flames swept through their home on Brimscombe Hill, near Stroud.

The 38-year-old's husband, Tom, is a serving Gloucestershire police officer and escaped the inferno. The pair had been married for around a decade. 

A friend of the Shearman family today described what happened as 'absolutely shocking'.

'We are all shellshocked to be honest with you,' she told the Mail. 'We don't know what happened [to cause the fire].'

Another friend of the family, living in the Cotswold community of Chipping Campden, said the tragedy was 'dreadful'.

Emergency services were called to the 'well-established' fire at the home at about 3am.

Gloucestershire Constabulary said Mr Shearman attempted to rescue his wife and two children but was beaten back by the severity of the flames.

Fionnghuala Shearman, known to friends as Nu, perished alongside daughter Eve, seven, and son Ohner, four, as flames swept through their home on Brimscombe Hill, near Stroud. Her husband, Tom, survived 

Tom is a serving Gloucestershire police officer and escaped the inferno. The pair had been married for around a decade

Emergency services were called to the 'well-established' fire at a property on Brimscombe Hill, near Stroud, Gloucestershire, at about 3am on December 26

In an update today, Detective Superintendent Ian Fletcher said the couple had been woken by the fire and tried 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.'

DS Fletcher said Mr Shearman tried to get back into the property to rescue his wife and children but was unable to do so.  

The officer continued: '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.'

DS 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.