‘Then who or what did we cremate?’ Daughter’s horror at finding bones in British wildfire victims’ car

Charred earth after a wildfire near the municipality of Bédar in Spain’s Almería province in July. Photograph: Pablo Blázquez Domínguez/Getty Images

When Danielle Gillam-Kirton’s parents, Pete and Fran Gillam, were killed in July’s Spanish wildfires, she felt her nightmare could get no worse. The much-loved couple had built their home in Bédar in Almería after retirement, becoming part of a tight-knit community. Fran, a former headteacher, loved to organise quiz nights to raise money for the local school and the couple enjoyed playing padel at a nearby sports club.

Spanish police told Gillam-Kirton that the vehicle in which her parents died had been “inspected meticulously” and no possessions had been found. But Gillam-Kirton, an assistant headteacher from Nottinghamshire, was sure her parents must have been wearing their wedding rings when they died.