HUNDREDS of people are expected to attend a funeral for a former boxing champion from York, who died while snorkelling on the Great Barrier Reef in Australia.

Cameron Shaw's funeral is set to take place at St Aelred's RC Church in Tang Hall in York on Friday (November 25) at 11am followed by a burial at Huntington Cemetery and a wake at Huntington Working Men's Club.

His mum and dad, Nova and Rod Shaw said the service will be conducted by Father Bill Serplus and the venue was chosen as it is one of the largest churches in the city.

York Press: Cam Shaw Cam Shaw (Image: Newsquest)

The service is expected to take about an hour to allow time for a full requiem mass and a eucharist to be celebrated.

Rod said that in terms of dress code black is optional: "Cam wouldn't want people to stay away because they couldn't afford a suit."

As The Press reported at the weekend, Cam's body has now arrived back in York, and the family are awaiting the outcome of a coroner's investigation - which they have been told could take up to 18 months to complete.

An inquest was opened by a coroner in Northallerton today (November 22) and confirmed what the family had already been told, that Cam drowned. It has now been adjourned to a later date.

As The Press reported last month, 25-year-old Cam, from Huntington, was on holiday in Cairns with his girlfriend, Ellyn Rungay, on an organised expedition at the time of his death on October 24.

Cameron's friends Kallum Summerbell and Chloe Ridsdale set up a GoFundMe page to help with repatriation costs - with £20,443 raised so far.

Cam - a former All Saints RC School pupil - won the Amateur Boxing Association's Elite 60kg title in 2018, and the gold medal at the prestigious Hivdovre Box Cup in Denmark the year before.

Aside from sport, Cam also performed alongside York panto legend Berwick Kaler in the Theatre Royal pantomime as one of the Babbies for about six years.

He went on to work as a production engineering assistant at Portakabin for several years before training as a ski instructor.

Cam is survived by Rod and Nova and brother, Tobi.

Queensland Police has said that their investigation is ongoing into the circumstances surrounding Cam's death, however, it is believed to be non-suspicious.