Family pay their tribute to Rifles soldier who was fatally shot by his own sniper rifle

The family of a soldier who died of a gunshot wound to the head have paid tribute to a much-loved son, brother and partner.

Lance Corporal Joe Spencer, 24, from Hampshire, who served in 3rd Battalion, The Rifles, was killed on 1 November 2016 when his L115 A3 sniper rifle fired a round while he was sheltering from the rain in an Iso shipping container at the Tain Air Weapons Range in Scotland.

At the end of a seven-day inquest in Winchester, the jury of five women and six men returned a narrative conclusion which said the exact circumstances of how the weapon went off and killed the infanteer remained a mystery.

A career he loved

The inquest concluded that inconsistent range management and adherence to safety procedures led to the incident.

LCpl Spencer's father, Graham Spencer, said the inquest had been incredibly difficult but was "something we needed to do to honour Joe's memory".

Mr Spencer said: "Joe was a much-loved son, brother and partner, his unnecessary death has left an immeasurable chasm in our lives.

"He was our youngest son, and we miss him more each day. Joe was kind and compassionate, always smiling, with a quick wit and dry sense of humour.

"Despite being badly injured while serving in Afghanistan, he fought back with incredible determination to continue the career he loved. That was the measure of Joe.

"It's more than nine years since Joe was taken from us, however the passage of time has done nothing to ease the grief and sense of loss we feel."

Live round remained chambered

The inquest heard how inconsistent range management and adherence to safety procedures had contributed to the omission of a full unload drill, which meant a live round remained chambered in LCpl Spencer's rifle.

“These events led to the unintentional discharge of his weapon. How his gun went off in the Iso could not be ascertained.”

The jury also concluded that the cause of death was a gunshot wound to the head.

At the start of the inquest, coroner Jason Pegg said the hearing had been substantially delayed because it followed investigations by Police Scotland and the Sheriffdom of Grampian, Highland and Islands at Tain.

In his determination released in December 2024, Sheriff Gary Aitken said the training course was being delivered in three phases at ranges at Barry Buddon near Dundee, Tain in the Highlands and Otterburn in Northumberland.

He found that LCpl Spencer had been standing waiting for his turn to take part in an exercise, with the butt of his rifle resting on his foot and his chin resting on the barrel, when it went off.

He ruled the incident was partly due to LCpl Spencer's "utterly inexplicable failure" to properly unload his rifle after a live-fire exercise earlier in the day.

The sheriff added that his death could have been avoided if he had not been "holding his rifle vertically in close proximity to his body during the undemanded discharge".

Sheriff Aitken also pointed to failures in the way the training course had been delivered, saying that if the correct words of command to carry out the unload drill had been given, the incident could have been avoided.