A promising musician who was killed when his tour bus burst into flames in America was "the best son a parent could hope for".
Barrow-born Stephen Joshua Fitzpatrick, of the band Her’s, was described by his father as "kind, humble and wise beyond his years" in an inquest into the 24-year-old’s death.
The singer and guitarist was in the back of the 15-seater tour bus when it collided with the pickup truck travelling in the wrong direction on a road in La Paz County, Arizona, on March 27, 2019.
Cockermouth Coroner’s Court heard one witness to the collision saw both vehicles immediately burst into flames.
Mr Fitzpatrick died alongside the other member of the band, Audun Laading, and tour manager Trevor Engelbrektson.
The driver of the pickup truck - named previously as Francisco Edward Rebollar, 64 - was also killed.
The inquest was told that the head-on collision occurred on interchange 10 at just after 1am.
Emergency services were said to have pronounced Mr Fitzpatrick dead about half an hour later.
Investigations surrounding the incident found the driver of the pickup was heading in the wrong direction on the road before colliding with the tour bus.
Both cars were said to have been "engulfed" by flames.
Police in Arizona were not able to identify the bus due to the fire damage.
Mr Fitzpatrick’s body also had to be identified using dental records from a practice in Barrow.
A postmortem examination concluded that Mr Fitzpatrick died due to the impact of blunt force and thermal injuries.
The band were heading to California from Phoenix, Arizona for the penultimate show on their tour of North America.
Mr Fitzpatrick met his bandmate as a student in Liverpool and the up-and-coming duo were tipped for the top.
In a statement read to the hearing, dad Peter Fitzpatrick paid tribute to his son.
He said: “He was active, agile and artistic, with a love of snowboarding, skateboarding and most of all music.
“He grew up to be kind, thoughtful, humble and wise beyond his years.
“He was a beautiful man, the best son a parent could have hoped for, and I miss him every day.”
Coroner Craig Smith recorded that Mr Fitzpatrick’s "extremely sad and tragic" death was caused by a road traffic collision and accepted the conclusions of the post-mortem.
Mr Smith said: “Clearly he was a talented, hardworking young man.
“At the time of his death, Stephen was touring with North America with his band.
“It’s a great tragedy that Stephen’s life and that of his band mates and manager were cut short in these sad and tragic circumstances.”
The coroner said he was familiar with the music of indie band Her’s, and called the band’s death "a great loss".
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