Funeral date for Dean Dawson

9:34am Friday 18th July 2008

THE funeral of the young father tragically killed in an alleged hit-and-run accident will be held next week after his body was returned to York.

Talented footballer Dean Dawson was on a night out in Wakefield with eight of his Hamilton Panthers FC team-mates when he was in collision with a Renault Clio outside the Elephant and Castle pub, in Westgate. The driver did not stop.

Dean’s body has now been returned to his home city and his funeral will be held at St Philip and St James’ Church, in Clifton Green, at 10.30am, on Thursday.

Tributes to the 24-year-old father-of-one have been flooding in to a group dedicated to him on social networking site facebook, with more 150 messages of condolence left in the three days since it was set up.

In a message on the group, called In Loving Memory of Dean Dawson, Laura Warnock, Dean’s partner of eight years, spoke about their three-year-old son Alfie, his Panthers team-mates and their life together.

“His main man Alfie was everything to Dean and always will be,” she said.

“He loved all the boys and would talk about them that much that I would be drained by the end of it.

“He always snored and wriggled in bed, loved chocolate and deserts, chilling with me and Alfie, feeding the ducks, and practising netball with me and Alfie on the field near ours.

“I just cannot tell you the things that I am going to miss, this is just a tiny few. I am very privileged to have all the lads with me, which I know Dean would like.”

Laura’s father Paul Warnock’s message reads: “It was a pleasure and privilege to know you.

“You always had a smile, never a wrong word about anybody. I remember the first time I met you at our house when you started going out with Laura all those years ago. You were the same then, polite and well mannered.

“I am so proud to have known you, you are a credit to your mum and dad.

“Thank you for taking care and looking after my little girl Laura and our wonderful, lovely grandson Alfie, and providing a great home for you all.

“You had such a big heart. Such a sad loss, and waste.”

Dean, of Rawcliffe, had just set up his own business with a friend after serving his apprenticeship as an electrician with Poppleton Road firm J Lister.

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