Helensburgh community shocked by tragic deaths

THE DEATHS of Thomas Sharkey and his children shocked the community of Helensburgh.

Thomas Jr, 21, won a golf scholarship to Georgia Southern University in the US after leaving Our Lady and Saint Patrick’s High in Dumbarton in 2008.

At the time of his death he had just finished his second year studying accountancy and was due to return to the university for the new semester in August 2011.

Bridget attended St Joseph’s Primary School in Helensburgh and was said to love dancing and going to the Brownies.

Speaking in the months after the fire, Mrs Sharkey said she and her husband were “immensely proud” of their children.

She said she doted on Thomas Jr: “the best son anyone could have”, and described her daughter as “brilliant”.

Mrs Sharkey also paid tribute to her husband, who was a “brilliant” father to their two children.

In a family statement, Valerie McFadyen, Mr Sharkey’s sister, said golf was Thomas Jr’s life and all his family and friends aspired to be as good as he was.

“His smile lit up every room and he always found the best in everyone he met,” she said.

“We always thought he would be famous for his golf and not for the tragic way he died.”

Mrs Sharkey’s sister Margaret McKechnie said Bridget was a “bubbly, cheeky and extremely popular” girl who touched many hearts in her short life.

During the trial the jury heard that Mr Sharkey Sr was sentenced to four years in prison in the 1990s for drug offences.

In her evidence, Mrs Sharkey claimed he was “set up” by someone who arranged for cannabis plants to be delivered to their home moments before police arrived and seized the drugs.

When asked if she was aware that her late husband was a drug dealer she said that if he was, she had not known about it.

When he died, he was employed by an industrial cleaning company called Abbey Cleaning, she said.