THE family of Joshua Hirst can now lay him to rest.
The 20-year-old Mirfield man suffered fatal stab wounds on Friday, August 3.
Four people have been charged with offences in connection with his death.
Coroner Peter Straker yesterday opened and adjourned an inquest into the incident and approved the release of Joshua’s body.
Mr Straker was told by Detective Inspector Lloyd Batley, the senior investigating officer, that two postmortems had been carried out which confirmed stab wounds to be the cause of death.
The coroner said during the five-minute hearing: “I open and adjourn this inquest until the police have completed their investigations.
“I will sign a burial order to allow a funeral to take place.
“I give my sincerest sympathy to the family – this is a sad case.”
The inquest heard that Joshua was a fabricator and welder, who lived with his parents at Grove Street, Mirfield.
He suffered stab wounds when he was attacked near his home at 11pm earlier this month.
Despite the efforts of doctors he died a short time later.
After his death, family and friends paid tribute to Joshua, saying he came from a “perfect family”.
Three men have been charged in connection with his murder. They are: Joe Church, 21, of Redlands Close, Mirfield, Arron Smith, 18, of Savile Street, Emley, and Nadeem Rashid, 21, of Lapwing View, Horbury Bridge.
All have been remanded in custody.
A fourth person, Kirstie Rainford, 22, of Springbank Drive, Liversedge, has been charged with two counts of assisting an offender by providing clothes and credit cards.
A trial is expected to take place in January with a plea and case management hearing on November 16.
