THE family of Josh Hirst last night spoke of their anguish as two men were convicted of his murder.

His dad Terry, mum Julie and brother Jon issued a statement saying: “Our lives have been devastated by the loss of Josh.

“We loved him so much and in turn he was loved by so many and brought joy, loyalty and happiness into the lives of others.

“On Friday August 3, 2012, he went out to celebrate his girlfriend’s birthday and we were so proud of how handsome and smart he looked.

“We never got to see Josh celebrate his 21st birthday and we feel like we have been robbed by the evil and cowardly attack on him.

“He was a brave young man that night despite the horrific injuries he had received.

“A beautiful kind human being has been taken from his loving mother, father and brother and is greatly missed.

“We would like to take this opportunity to thank West Yorkshire Police for their hard work and dedication into achieving justice for our Josh.”

Meanwhile, the detective who led the murder hunt told how his team pieced together evidence which led to the conviction of the killers.

Det Chief Insp Chris Walker, of West Yorkshire Police Homicide and Major Enquiry Team, spoke yesterday after a jury found Joe Church and Aaron Smith guilty of Mr Hirst’s murder.

Mr Walker said: “This was an inexplicable brutal attack on a young lad who had just been out to celebrate his girlfriend’s 18th birthday.

“We pieced together Josh’s last movements which were well documented on CCTV.

“We also had our own intelligence and then investigated and spoke to people in connection with the murder.”

He praised the officers who spotted Smith and Church in a car parked near Mirfield the day after the murder.

But he said it was the vital evidence recovered by a witness which undoubtedly progressed the enquiry.

He said: “Within 24 hours witnesses came forward describing what clothing the suspects were wearing immediately after the offence.

“We knew of an incident in Mirfield in May and in the immediate aftermath pursued those avenues.

“A witness came to us and explained what he knew had gone on in the immediate aftermath at a house.

“He led officers to where clothes and the balaclavas were dumped across South Huddersfield and into South Yorkshire.

“It would have been difficult to recover those items without his assistance, and we would have been relying on members of the public finding them because they were scattered in such a way.”

THIS was the chilling moment when a young man bought a murder weapon.

Joe Church, of Mirfield, was captured on CCTV in a DIY shop buying a knife.

And less than 12 hours later, Church and his accomplice Aaron Smith used that knife to murder Josh Hirst in Mirfield.

Yesterday the pair were found guilty of the murder of 20-year-old Josh, who had been out celebrating his girlfriend’s birthday on a summer’s evening.

A third man was acquitted of all charges by the jury of five men and seven women.

But Church, 21, and Smith, 19, were found guilty at Leeds Crown Court yesterday after a four-week trial.

Now both face a life sentence.

Mr Hirst, 20, was stabbed to death during a scuffle in a ginnel yards from his home in Grove Lane, Mirfield, on August 3.

Church, of Redlands Close, Mirfield, and Smith, of Savile Street, Emley, showed no emotion as the verdict was passed.

They were both found guilty by a majority verdict of 10:2 by the jury.

The third accused man, Nadeem Rashid, 21, of Lapwing View, Horbury, was cleared of both murder and manslaughter and was released following the hearing.

Damning CCTV evidence seized by the police showed Church buying a knife at 12.20pm on the day of the killing.

The knife has never been found.

The court heard earlier in the trial how Church and Smith bought the knife after watching a group of their friends sentenced for robbery at Leeds Crown Court.

The pair were that same evening driven around Mirfield by Rashid and spotted Mr Hirst’s white Audi and followed it.

The prosecution told how they got out in Shillbank Lane and chased Hirst from his home down a ginnel.

It was heard how there was a scuffle for the knife between Church and Josh, during which his throat was cut, causing him to suffer ‘massive blood loss’.

The pair fled, covered in blood, returning by car to a friend’s house in Mitchell Avenue, Waterloo.

Meanwhile Josh staggered home after suffering a fatal stab wound to his neck which had cut through his carotid artery.

His parents were awoken and initially tried to get him to hospital, but Josh collapsed on the pavement and an ambulance was called.

Despite frantic efforts and help from a passing friend, Josh later died in hospital, an hour after the attack.

But the court heard instead of raising the alarm Church and Smith did everything they could to dispose of the evidence.

They made two trips well into South Yorkshire, depositing blood-stained items in bins, drains and fields.

Police recovered items including two balaclavas which had both defendants’ DNA on them.

Smith did not give evidence during the trial but instead gave a prepared statement to his solicitor.

He said he went to talk to Josh about what he had been saying about him but had no idea Church had a knife.

Church’s defence relied on events being a series of coincidences such as following the vehicle Hirst was driving and forgetting he had the knife in his pocket. He denied the balaclavas bought that day were worn.

Smith and Church are due to be sentenced at Leeds Crown Court on Thursday.