Mother killed in Bristol house explosion hailed a hero for saving child just moments before blast

A mother has been hailed as a hero for saving her child just moments before a “grenade” explosion killed her and her ex-boyfriend.

Joanne Shaw, 35, sent her son to play outside on a trampoline when a serious argument arose in the early hours of Sunday, which ended up saving the child’s life.

Moments later, Ryan Kelly, 41, set off an explosion at her Sterncourt Road home in Bristol at 6:32am on May 3, killing them both.

Police had been called to the scene 15 minutes earlier to reports of a “domestic-related incident” and were then informed at 6:30am that a man was thought to have an explosive device.

The blast injured three other people, who are believed to be her son and two other family members; they have all since been discharged from the hospital.

Avon and Somerset Police have confirmed that the pair had a history of domestic incidents.

A neighbour told the Mail: “I heard a loud bang first thing on Sunday morning and assumed it was a gas explosion of some sort.

“A neighbour of mine said he saw an ambulance crew giving CPR to two people outside in the street shortly afterwards.

“It's the little boy I feel so desperately sorry for. It's devastating to know that he'll grow up without his mother.

“It's just a horrible loss for the family.”

Ms Shaw’s uncle, John Shaw, said: “My younger brother Anthony rang me to tell me that she'd been killed and that her ex had let a grenade off in the house.

“I couldn't believe what I was hearing and am still struggling to make sense of all this. My brother was hardly able to speak, he was crying down the phone.

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“We called my niece Joey. She was a wonderful woman and a great mother.

“I don't understand why anybody would want to harm her in any way.

“The man who did this is the scum of the earth and it's a good job he died because otherwise I'd have killed him myself. I'm still trying to understand where her ex got the grenade from and what type of grenade it was.

“But my brother wasn't able to tell me anything about this because he was so devastated.”

A friend of Joanne’s mother said that upon hearing the blast, she “just knew it had to be” related to Kelly.

The friend described Ms Kelly as the “loveliest, kindest lady” and said she “didn’t deserve this.”

Kelly was jailed in 2015 for five years after admitting conspiracy to supply cocaine, helping to sell drugs for a 78-year-old battling cancer.

A relative of Kelly’s extended family, who chose to remain anonymous, said: “I had a telephone call from another family member to say that Ryan had died.

“She told me that he had taken his own life and I was really shocked.

“Even though it had been years since I had seen him - it was probably when he was only a child - I still couldn't believe he was dead.

“And to now hear that he might have died in that explosion is quite shocking.”

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