THE mother of three children killed in a 'tragic' incident made a heartfelt plea last night to be left alone as a media pack descended on the small community of Milkwall and nearby Coleford where they went to school.

Ruth Fuller said in a statement released by Gloucestershire Police: "l don't have the words to describe how l feel at the moment. All l would ask is that l be left alone to grieve for my family."

Across the Forest there was deep shock after news broke of the tragic deaths of Ceri Fuller and his three children – Sam (12), Becca (10) and Charlotte (6).

The sequence of events that led to the discovery of their bodies in a woodland area near Shrewsbury, Shropshire, began last Thursday when a missing persons report was sent out by Police for Mr Fuller and his children along with a description of his red Land Rover Freelander car.

A search was started, with Barmouth, Harlech and Welshpool included since they were believed to be holiday locations favoured by the family.

On Monday, a member of the public found the car, and a police officer called to the scene found the bodies of the three children who had been stabbed, and their father who appeared to have died after falling from a cliff into a quarry. The area was named as Pontesbury Hill, a woodland beauty spot favoured by local people, which also contains old stone workings.

Television reports soon picked up on the story, until it became a lead item on national news programmes – with film crews and reporters descending on the family home in Milkwall, and also at the two local schools that the children attended.

Neighbours and parents of other children at the schools paid tearful tribute on-screen to the family, sending condolences to the mother of the three children, Mrs Ruth Fuller.

Mr Fuller worked as a production supervisor at Glatfelter paper-mill in Lydney. He grew up in the Forest and attended Whitecross School in Lydney, before taking his A-levels at the Royal Forest of Dean College. He went on to gain a degree in molecular and cellular biology at Huddersfield University.

Sam Fuller attended Lakers School, while the girls Becca and Charlotte went to St Johns C of E Primary School in Coleford. The family moved into their Milkwall home around a year ago.

The scene of the deaths remains sealed off by police as a full forensic investigation gets underway. A pathology report was to be released on Wednesday this week.

Tributes, bouquets and cards began appearing outside the three children's schools on Monday evening, turning into what one onlooker described as a 'tide of flowers'.

On Tuesday morning St Johns C of E school was to have held a 'leavers' service' at St John The Evangelist Church in Coleford for pupils preparing to go on to secondary education, but this was changed to a memorial service for the three Fuller children, and to allow their fellow pupils and staff time for 'prayer and reflection'.