Funeral of fire tragedy mum

The funeral of a mother whose three children were killed in a house fire at Bridlington will be held today.

Samantha Hudson, 29 was left brain damaged and unable to walk or talk after the blaze that claimed the lives of her children William, nine, AJ, five, and Maddie, three.

She died on Sunday, more than two years after the fire at her home in Clarence Avenue, in the Yorkshire resort

Samantha was found cuddling her three children in an upstairs bedroom once firefighters had battled through the flames to reach them.

Nurse Lesley Salisbury, who tried in vain to save the children after they were brought out of the house, said: "She has now been reunited with her little ones and I hope her family can take some comfort from that."

Samantha's funeral will take place at the Bridlington Emmanuel Church, where the children's funeral was held.

Samantha's parents, Robert and Sharon, were told their daughter was not expected to survive after the fire on November 11, 2010.

After the flames broke out while she slept in the living room, Samantha climbed two flights of stairs through thick, toxic smoke to collect each of her sleeping children from their beds.

She suffered severe brain damage and was put in a medically- induced coma at Scarborough General Hospital.

Although she regained consciousness, she remained unable to walk, talk or eat. She spent a year in the brain rehabilitation unit of Goole and District Hospital, before she was moved to a care home in Holme-on- Spalding Moor last year.

An inquest concluded the fire was likely to have been caused by a discarded cigarette which set fire to the children's school uniforms in a pile on the living room floor.