Mother's funeral anguish after her daughters and parents die in blaze

A New York advertising executive delivered a heartbreaking tribute to her three daughters who died when fire ripped through the family home on Christmas Day.

Madonna Badger - who also lost her parents in the blaze - told more than 500 mourners at St Thomas Church, Manhattan, of "the incomprehensible loss and chaos".

Lily, nine, twins Sarah and Grace, seven, and their grandparents Lomer and Pauline Johnson, aged 71 and 69, all lost their lives. Ms Badger and partner Michael Borcina escaped.

Yesterday friends of the family - including designers Calvin Klein and Vera Wang, musician Lou Reed and actor Philip Seymour Hoffman - listened as Ms Badger said: "My girls are in my heart. They're right here. And that's where they live now."

Three small wooden caskets, each crowned with a bouquet of lilies, sat at the foot of the altar.

Ms Badger, 47, fought back tears as she described each girl. But at the end of the funeral service, as she followed out the caskets, she broke down and her sobs echoed around the cavernous Gothic building. Her estranged husband Matthew, the father of the girls, and Mr Borcina helped her out of the church in Fifth Avenue.

Investigators believe the blaze, in Stamford, Connecticut, began when ashes from the fireplace were put outside the house so the children would not worry about Father Christmas coming down the chimney.

At the service, Ms Badger said Lily was "my angel and my life and she was my firstborn". Sarah was "my little whippersnapper, loved and lovable and full of love". Grace was "fearless" but often asked her mother "if she was going to die before me".

"I said no, that's never going to happen," said Ms Badger. "But it did, and I wonder why. Why my children? Why my parents?"

Rufus Wainwright performed a haunting a cappella version of Over The Rainbow and hymns were sung by the St Thomas male choir.

The victims died of smoke inhalation. Mr Johnson had also suffered head and neck trauma which resulted from a fall or being hit by an object. Stamford police are helping fire officials investigate.

Today police said they wanted to know whether there were smoke alarms, the status of renovation work on the house, and whether the contractor had permits.

Fire Chief Antonio Conte said the blaze was Stamford's deadliest since one in 1987 which also killed five people. Fifty-five local firefighters formed a guard of honour at the children's funeral.

Ms Badger has managed high profile ad campaigns for companies and brands including Calvin Klein.