A fundraising page for the family of four young children killed when a fire ripped through their home in the middle of the night has passed the £20,000 mark.

Riley Holt, eight, Keegan Unitt, six, Olly Unitt, three, and Tilly Rose Unitt, four, died after the blaze in Sycamore Lane, Highfields, Stafford, on Tuesday.

A fifth child, named locally as two-year-old Jack, was taken to hospital after escaping from a first-floor window with his mother Natalie Unitt and her partner Chris Moulton.

Stafford house fire
The scene of the fire in Sycamore Lane (PA)

Mr Moulton, 28, is understood to be receiving treatment for burns and Ms Unitt, 24, for smoke inhalation, as they recover from non-life-threatening injuries.

The description on the JustGiving page, which aims to raise £25,000, reads: “Tragically on Tuesday 5th February four children’s lives were lost in a house fire in Highfields, Stafford. All donations received will go directly to the parents to help them rebuild their lives.

“I am a parent of the school where some of the children attended and will be liaising with the school and police to ensure family receive all donations. Thanks so much for your support.

“Any questions then please contact Community Help for Highfields family Facebook page.”

Police said they will remain at the scene with Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service for the next few days while forensic inquiries continue.

Post-mortem examinations of the four children who died will take place later this week, the force added.

Tory Cabinet member David Lidington expressed condolences on behalf of all MPs to the family, saying what they must be going through is “almost unendurable”.

The fire was brought up at Prime Minister’s Questions by Conservative Jack Brereton, who represents nearby Stoke on-Trent South.

Mr Lidington, standing in for Theresa May who was in Northern Ireland, said: “I don’t believe there is any member of this House whose reaction to that ghastly news yesterday was not horror, and the most deeply felt sympathy with the family and the friends of the children and parents involved.

“Any of us that are thinking through what that family has had to live through, and must face living through, it strikes one it must be almost unendurable.”

The Cabinet Office minister also paid tribute to the Staffordshire emergency services as well as local schools offering support to pupils who knew the children.