THE funeral of murder victim Kevin Pharoah will take place today.

Mr Pharoah, a father-of-three from Gateshead, died last month of injuries he sustained more than 20 months previously, when he was attacked in a pub.

Police have opened a murder inquiry made possible after a 400-year-old year-and-a-day law was abolished.

Mr Pharoah, 49, was found dead six weeks ago by his daughter at his home at Rickgarth, Leam Lane, Gateshead. He had suffered a fatal epileptic attack.

Mr Pharoah had suffered from epilepsy after being beaten at an 18th birthday party at the Fret and Fiddler pub, Sunniside, near Gateshead, on January 22 last year.

Northumbria Police have taken advantage of a change in the law to open a murder inquiry.

Previously, the law, drawn up when people were less likely to survive comas for long, stated that no one could be charged with murder if the victim died more than a year and a day after an assault.

It was scrapped in 1996 after The Northern Echo backed Darlington mother Pat Gibson's campaign to change the law. Mrs Gibson's son, Michael, had died 16 months after being left in a coma.

Yesterday, Detective Superintendent Ian Sharp said: "Our inquiries are continuing in the Sunniside area and we are still in the process of tracing everyone who was at the pub that night. Our thoughts are with Mr Pharoah's family as they prepare for his funeral."

The funeral will be for immediate family and close friends only.

Anyone with information about the attack on Mr Pharoah can contact police on 0191-221 9087 or 0191-221 9042.