An appeal to raise funds for a police officer who lost his wife and two children in a Boxing Day house fire has topped £250,000.
Fionnghuala Shearman, known as Nu, died alongside her daughter Eve, seven, and four-year-old son Ohner in the fire at their home in Brimscombe, near Stroud, Gloucestershire.
Tom Shearman, an officer with Gloucestershire Constabulary, was taken to hospital after his attempts to rescue his family were beaten back by the severity of the fire but has been discharged.
The GoFundMe fundraising appeal, which was launched on Sunday, passed its target of £110,000, with a fresh aim of £350,000.
Early on Wednesday, the figure had reached more than £255,000 with more than 12,200 donations.
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 and could not regain entry to the house through the bathroom window.
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 been recovered from the property.
The body of a woman in her late 30s had been recovered earlier.
Mrs Shearman ran bespoke handbag manufacturer Hide & Hammer making fashion accessories from leather and canvas.
Donations to the fundraising campaign can be made at: www.gofundme.com/f/helping-rebuild-after-an-unimaginable-loss
