A mother and her two children have been killed in a blaze that destroyed their home on Boxing Day.

Emergency services were called to the "well-established" fire on Brimscombe Hill in Stroud, Gloucestershire, at about 03:00 GMT on Friday.

The father, a serving police officer with Gloucestershire Constabulary, was able to escape and was taken to hospital.

A seven-year-old girl, a four-year-old boy and their mother, aged in her 40s, were all trapped inside the burning property.

The body of the mother was recovered on Sunday but formal identification is yet to take place.

Police said the body of one child has been located but still remains inside the property.

Emergency services said they had been "unable to recover" the child's body "at this time".

They are still working to locate the body of the second child but the unstable condition of the property requires teams to proceed with caution.

They added that the fire began on the ground floor of the property and that there were not believed to be any suspicious circumstances surrounding the cause.

Det Supt Ian Fletcher described it as a "tragic incident".

'Ferocity and heat'

The mother and father were awoken at 03:00 GMT to the fire and attempted to reach the back bedroom where the children were sleeping.

The father managed to escape the property through the bathroom window before attempting to climb through the children's bedroom window.

However, he was unable to do so due to the "ferocity and heat" of the blaze, Det Insp Fletcher added.

He then attempted to re-enter through the bathroom but the fire "had taken hold".

He tried to force entry via the front and back door but was unable to get back inside.

During a press conference, Det Insp Fletcher said: "We are very much in a process where we're looking to recover the bodies of all of the victims inside the property in a dignified way, in order to return them to the family."

"I can confirm the husband... and the surviving member of the family is a serving police officer at Gloucestershire Constabulary."

"Our hearts and prayers go out to him and all of his colleagues.

"He is obviously working with us in order to try and understand exactly what has happened in that property."

He added the family had asked for privacy.