A verdict of unlawful killing has been recorded on a 70-year-old heavy drinker who was beaten up in a Bradford flat.

Edwin Norford was left with irreversible brain damage following a serious assault in the Manningham area of Bradford nearly three years ago.

The two-day inquest in the city heard how he fell into a 13-month-long coma before dying in a nursing home on Boxing Day in 1998.

Coroner Roger Whittaker said he was satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that Mr Norford was unlawfully killed.

He described how Mr Norford had had a "severe battering'' in the flat in Mornington Villas, Bradford.

Mr Whittaker said: "It's clear that as a result of the injuries he sustained in this flat he was severely unconscious by the time someone surfaced from an alcoholic phase and found him.''

Two men - Peter Hull and Michael Holliday - were both convicted in 1998 of carrying out separate assaults on Mr Norford that night.

Hull was jailed for three years while Holliday was ordered to do 40 hours' community service and placed on probation for two years.

But it was revealed during the inquest that the Crown Prosecution Service will not take criminal proceedings any further.

Mr Whittaker said that was a "matter of regret'' to Mr Norford's family, adding it was something beyond his control.

Speaking after the case, Detective Chief Inspector Allan Doherty, of Bradford police, said it had been a thorough investigation.

He said: "I think the verdict probably stresses what occurred that night. He (Mr Norford) was unlawfully killed.''

Dr Christopher Milroy, a Home Office consultant pathologist, told the hearing Mr Norford died from broncho-pneumonia after suffering widespread brain injury - seen after major road accidents and serious assaults.

He said: "In my opinion, the assault in November 1997 can be directly linked to this man's death.''

He said repeated blows would be required to have caused that degree of brain damage, which he described as "irreversible''.

Mr Norford, 70, of Harrogate Road, Leeds, had been invited with other people to a flat for a drink.

But the inquest was told that while he was there, trouble flared up after one of them accused him of being a thief.

Nicholas Barlow, who had been in the flat at the time, said that all he could remember was Mr Norford being hit a few times.