A woman and two children aged seven and four have been reported dead following a fire outbreak in the early hours of Boxing Day.
The father, who is a police officer in his desperation to save them, forced his way out of the stone cottage and attempted to break inside of his children’s bedroom from the outside to rescue them.
His attempt was however foiled by the flames.
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In response to the incident, a spokesman, Det Supt Ian Fletcher, at the police headquarters in Gloucester noted that emergency services were called upon at 3am on Boxing Day to a “well-established fire.
He revealed that the couple had been awakened early due to the blaze and said: They attempted to get to their children in the back bedroom. They’ve been unable to get to the back bedroom due to the ferocity and the heat of that fire.
“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’s been unable to enter via that bedroom window. He then tries 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.
“He’s subsequently gone downstairs and tried to force entry via the front and the back door but has been unable to get back inside into the property and it’s at this point our colleagues from emergency services, fire police etc have attended and have started managing the fire.”
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In their assessment, Fletcher stated that the fire was speculated to have begun on the ground floor and went up.
The body of his wife and one of his children has been found in the mid-terrace cottage. Meanwhile, the body of the second child is still being searched for by search and recovery experts.
The girl was seven and the boy was four. The body of the child found is yet to be identified as which one it is.
The spokesperson, Fletcher added: “The husband is a serving police officer with Gloucestershire constabulary. He’s working with us to try to understand what exactly has happened.
“We’ve had multiple witnesses describe the anguish that he was going through, his inability to get in and save his children and save his wife. He’s a well-liked officer in Gloucestershire constabulary. He’s worked for us for a number of years.”
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