A PENSIONER died of natural causes, despite a fire at his home.

Arthur Holmes, 88, of Brownhill Lane, Holmbridge, was found dead on March 31 when firefighters were called.

He was pulled from his farmhouse when a fire broke out at 9pm. But medics were unable to save the pensioner and he was declared dead at Huddersfield Royal Infirmary.

It was unclear if his death was caused by the fire or if he had already died.

At the inquest at Huddersfield Magistrates’ Court yesterday, Coroner Roger Whittaker said that had he known the medical results before Mr Holmes’ funeral, an inquest into his death would not have been necessary.

A pipe and cigarette lighters were found near to his body, but he had already passed away.

A postmortem revealed that Mr Holme died of acute bronchitis.