A coroner has told a teenager that he owes it to his late best friend to explain the circumstances of his death by gunshot wound in an isolated quarry.
William Goodburn Buffey, 13, of Carlton Husthwaite, Thirsk, died in February at Quarry Bank, a disused quarry.
The friend pleaded guilty last December to intending to pervert the course of justice and gun certificate offences.
On Monday, coroner Dr Michael Oakley recorded an open verdict on William at an inquest in Northallerton.
The inquest had been delayed because of legal proceedings involving the 16-year-old and another man who was not at the quarry the day William died.
Dr Oakley refused to adjourn the inquest after a request from Julia Weatherall, representing the Buffey family.
The coroner said the inquest could be re-opened should any further evidence be found.
Summing up he told the 16-year-old that he "owes it to his late best friend and his parents to come up with a full explanation of the events of that day at the quarry."
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