![\"Fran](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/504.jpg\")
Fran Gillam with her daughter Danielle Gillam-Kirton. Photograph: Danielle Kirton<\/p>\nWhen Danielle Gillam-Kirton\u2019s parents, Pete and Fran Gillam, were killed in July\u2019s Spanish wildfires, she felt her nightmare could get no worse. The much-loved couple had built their home in B\u00e9dar in Almer\u00eda 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.<\/p>\n
Spanish police told Gillam-Kirton that the vehicle in which her parents died had been \u201cinspected meticulously\u201d 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.<\/p>\n
She was invited to search the vehicle herself, which was parked in a police compound in Moj\u00e1car. \u201cYou won\u2019t find anything,\u201d she was told.<\/p>\n
Fran Gillam with her daughter Danielle Gillam-Kirton. Photograph: Danielle Kirton<\/p>\n
She describes crying out in shock when she looked through the door of the burnt-out car. On the front seats were what appeared to be a human hip bone. \u201cI honestly can\u2019t describe what that felt like. I remember staring at what was in my hand, and the slow realisation of what I thought I was looking at hit me. I shouted out in shock,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
Map<\/a><\/p>\n She and her partner searched the car and found more bones, which appeared to be the remains of the couple. They also found her parents\u2019 mobile phones, sets of keys, jewellery, money and other personal effects.<\/p>\n The Gillams were among 14 people killed in the fires<\/a>, including Belgian, French, American and Spanish nationals. Some of the bereaved families are now searching for answers<\/a> and claim the B\u00e9dar authorities have botched the investigation into their deaths.<\/p>\n The names of villas amid B\u00e9jar\u2019s burnt landscape. Photograph: Jorge Guerrero\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n There has already been a funeral for the Gillams. \u201cIt makes you wonder: who or what did we cremate?\u201d Gillam-Kirton says. She is demanding answers from the Spanish government and asking the UK Foreign Office to hold the authorities to account.<\/p>\n The bones she found have been sent for DNA testing after weeks of delay from the B\u00e9dar local authority. Forensic scientists who have looked at pictures of the bones have told Gillam-Kirton they appear to be human.<\/p>\n \u201cThe whole sequence is incredibly difficult to understand. We were told there was nothing left, and yet when we were finally able to look ourselves, we found significant personal belongings and what appeared to be human remains,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n \u201cWe were initially told it was probably animal remains.\u201d She says she had to push the Spanish authorities to send them off for DNA testing. \u201cThe bones were big. I can\u2019t see how a large animal like a cow would have climbed into the passenger seat of the vehicle during a fire.\u201d<\/p>\n A B\u00e9dar house after July\u2019s wildfires. Photograph: Ana Beltran\/Reuters<\/p>\n Gillam-Kirton says she helped another family who were told their loved ones died while attempting to escape the fires on foot and that their remains had been cleared by a forensic team. She arranged for a search party \u2013 including a police officer and one of the victim\u2019s relatives \u2013 to travel to the hillside on which they died. There they found what appeared to be human bones lying in plain view along with various personal belongings.<\/p>\n \u201cThese were people who were caught in the same horrific fire as my mum and dad,\u201d she says. \u201cThey lost their lives in terrifying circumstances and they deserved dignity and respect, in the way they were treated at the time and afterwards. And for us and the other families, those personal belongings aren\u2019t just objects. They\u2019re the last physical things connecting us to the people we have lost.\u201d<\/p>\n Gillam-Kirton has previously criticised the Spanish authorities for failing to alert her parents to the danger of the fire in good time. Though the fire alert came at 4.30pm, the evacuation order did not come for another three hours and was delivered by a lone police officer, who was \u201cfrantically driving from house to house\u201d. Thirteen residents from the Gillams\u2019 village died.<\/p>\n Gillam-Kirton says she wants the UK government to \u201ckeep pressing the Spanish authorities for proper answers\u201d. She adds: \u201cEight British people died in this fire, including my mum and dad, so I think it is really important that the UK government continues to take an interest in what happened. After all, we are talking about the treatment of British nationals \u2013 the deceased and the living.\u201d<\/p>\n She and the other families are asking the Spanish authorities for \u201ca proper, thorough and transparent investigation \u2026 and I mean the whole thing, not just what caused the fire, but what happened during the emergency response, what warnings were given, when they were given, who received them, what evacuation arrangements were in place and what happened to the victims afterwards\u201d.<\/p>\n A burnt-out car after the wildfire in B\u00e9dar. Photograph: Ana Beltran\/Reuters<\/p>\n![\"Danielle](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/566.jpg\")
Pete Gillam with Danielle Gillam-Kirton (right). Photograph: Danielle Kirton<\/p>\n