ANOTHER man has appeared in court accused of murdering Mirfield man Josh Hirst.

Nadeem Rashid, 20, was before Kirklees’ Magistrates Court yesterday.

Mr Hirst, 20, was found with fatal stab wounds near Hepworth Lane on Friday night.

Joe Church, 21, and Arron Smith, 22, have also been accused of Mr Hirst’s murder. They appeared at Leeds Crown Court yesterday.

Rashid, of Lapwing View in Horbury Bridge, Wakefield, is jointly charged with murder.

Like Church and Smith he also faces an allegation of having without lawful excuse in a public place, an offensive weapon, a knife.

Rashid, dressed in a grey striped top with white jogging bottoms, spoke only to confirm his personal details.

Flanked by two security guards in the secure dock, at one point he was warned by magistrates to pay attention to the charges.

Carole Lawford, prosecuting, told magistrates: “The charges in this case must be sent to the crown court at Leeds.

“The two co-defendants were already sent earlier in the week and another for assisting an offender has also gone.

“The defendant is not entitled to apply for bail.”

Rashid was remanded in custody to appear before Leeds Crown Court for a preliminary hearing on Monday.

His co-accused were further remanded in custody, charged over the murder, when they appeared before a judge.

Smith, 18, of Savile Street, Emley, and Church, 21, of Redlands Close, Mirfield, are jointly charged with murder and possession of a knife.

Both appeared from custody at Leeds Crown Court.

The two men, wearing dark shirts, sat side by side in the dock flanked by security officers.

They spoke only to confirm their names during the brief hearing.

Neither applied for bail and the Recorder of Leeds Peter Collier QC remanded them in custody.

They will next appear at Leeds Crown Court on Monday, August 20.

The judge said: “We will fix a date for the trial as soon as we can organise it.”

The trial is expected to take place next year and could last up to three weeks.

In a linked case Kirstie Rainford, 22, of Springbank Drive, Liversedge, has been charged with two counts of assisting an offender.

She is on conditional bail and is next due to appear before Leeds Crown Court on August 15.