AN inquest has been opened and adjourned by the Plymouth, Torbay and South Devon coroner, Ian Arrow, on 51-year-old Adrian John Hugo Munday, who was found dead at his Newton Abbot home on Tuesday, October 6.

Coroner’s officer Richard Parsons told the hearing on Friday last week that Mr Munday, who was single and lived at 8 Wain Lane, was unemployed due to ill-health.

He said Mr Munday’s body was discovered in the lounge. There had been a fire at the premises.

Mr Parsons said the body had been identified by Sharon Ousley, a fingerprint expert from Exeter, by means of direct comparison with fingerprints.

He added that police enquiries were continuing into events surrounding Mr Munday’s death, and as such they had requested retention of his body for 28 days.

The exact cause of death had yet to be ascertained.

l At Plymouth Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday last week, 40-year-old Stuart Hodgkin, originally from Basingstoke, was charged with Mr Munday’s murder and remanded in custody to appear before a judge at crown court on Monday, November 9.