00:00Some breaking news to bring you now. Police have been giving an update in the investigation into a fire that destroyed a house in Gloucestershire on Boxing Day.
00:09Let's bring in our West of England correspondent, Dan Whitehead. Good morning to you, Dan.
00:15They were still looking for three people, weren't they, in that house. What is the update?
00:20The extremely distressing incident that unfolded on Boxing Day in Stroud and this morning we've been given an update by police confirming that very sadly a mother and two children died in the house fire on Brimsken Hill in Stroud.
00:44A seven-year-old girl, a four-year-old boy and their mother, who we understand, is in her 40s.
00:51The father, the husband of the mother, managed to escape. A tragic accident.
00:59And some detail from police this morning as to what unfolded.
01:04This was a two-up, two-down, Cotswold stone property, mid-terrace.
01:10And we understand that the fire broke out downstairs and rapidly took hold upstairs.
01:15And we heard from DCI Ian Fletcher from Gloucestershire Constabulary, who described how the father attempted to get to the children's bedroom to try and get to them,
01:30which involved breaking out of windows and trying to access through other rooms.
01:35This is what Ian Fletcher, DSI Ian Fletcher, had to tell us.
01:40They have attempted to get to their children in the back bedroom of that property.
01:45They've been unable to get to the back bedroom due to the veracity of that fire and the heat from that fire.
01:51The father has smashed his way out of the house through a bathroom window in order to try to access the child's bedroom via the outside.
01:59He's been unable to enter the property via that bedroom window.
02:04He's then tried to re-enter the property through the bathroom window, by which stage the fire has taken hold in the bathroom.
02:10And he's unable to get back into the upstairs bedrooms.
02:14He's subsequently gone downstairs and tried to force entry via the front and the back door, but has been unable to get back inside of the property.
02:22Yeah, very distressing detail there.
02:28We had further updates saying that the adult female, the mother has, her body has been recovered.
02:35Officers from Fire and Rescue have also found the remains of one child.
02:42They do not know at this stage whether that is the seven-year-old girl or the four-year-old boy.
02:46They have not found yet the remains of the other child.
02:52Now, the husband of the wife, we had confirmation as well, was a serving police officer here at Gloucestershire Constabulary.
03:01So this is something which has hit the force here and the other members of the emergency services incredibly hard.
03:08We spoke to the police about the situation on the ground when crews arrived shortly after three in the morning and the father who had attempted, as we heard, to get back inside the building from the front door and the back door.
03:22He was in anguish.
03:23He was going through.
03:24He was incredibly distraught, as you can imagine.
03:28He was then, of course, taken to hospital where he remains and where he is being treated.
03:33We heard as well from Deputy Chief Fire Officer Nathaniel Houghton describing how his crews worked incredibly hard to get in.
03:41He said that the hearts and prayers are with the victims and that there was significant damage.
03:46The roof has essentially collapsed at that property.
03:50We do not yet know the cause.
03:53That investigation work, we are told, is continuing, so no cause yet.
03:57And also from the leader of Stroud Council, Council Councillor Chloe Turner, again, who sent her heartfelt condolences out to everybody impacted and grateful to the emergency crews.
04:09There are, of course, police and fire cordons remaining in place in Brimson Hill in Stroud.
04:15But a tragic accident, not suspicious, is what police are confirming, which has left a woman in her 40s and two children, a seven-year-old girl and a four-year-old boy dead.
04:27There are, of course, police and a four-year-old boy dead.
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