UNITED IN MOURNING

Noel, Graham and Nevin Spence died tragically as they tried to save each other in a slurry tank accident at their farm in Hillsborough.

It’s understood that eldest brother Graham first lowered a ladder into a manhole to retrieve a pet dog which disappeared into the tank. Graham’s father Noel then went in to try to save his son and he was followed by Nevin, a member of the Ulster rugby squad, when he realised the other two were in danger.

Emma Rice twice climbed into a manhole and then down into a slurry tank on the family farm where her father Noel, 58, and brothers Graham, 30, and Nevin, 22, were overcome by killer fumes.

Emma, an artist, managed to pull her father on to the ladder where she was assisted by neighbours. They immediately tried to resuscitate Noel. Mrs Rice then went back a second time and found Graham in the tank lying in two to three feet of slurry.

But she was then overcome by the fumes and had to be pulled free by frantic neighbours who ran to the tank after hearing the calls for help.

Pastor of Ballynahinch Church Rodney Stout described the men as “three peas in a pod”.

“The two sons, while having their individual characters and giftedness, nevertheless were most certainly chips off the old block,” he said.

The pastor said they had left behind as positive a legacy as any family could have.

He said the circumstances of their deaths – when they risked their lives to save each other – reflected how they lived life.

He said Noel Spence loved his children and grandchildren dearly and that Graham, father to young children Nathan and Georgia, was committed to his family and the farm.

“Andrea knew him as her loving, devoted husband, her best friend and true soulmate. They often joked with each other that they existed within their own bubble and no one loved each other as much as they did. He doted on their two children Nathan and Georgia, and whenever they were around him his eyes lit up.”

He said Nevin Spence, tipped to represent Ireland at international level, did not consider himself a famous rugby player.

The minister recalled an icebreaker game at a recent church event when Nevin, asked for a word to describe himself, chose “normal”.

“That is really how he viewed himself and he, like Noel and Graham, attributed his ability to keep his feet on the ground, his head out of the clouds and his life on an even keel as directly related to the relationship he had with God through Jesus Christ,” he said.

A private family service was held at the Spences’ house and farm on the Drumlough Road ahead of the funeral.

After the funeral, the three men were taken for burial at the nearby Lough Inch Cemetery.

Health and safety experts are carrying out an investigation into the fatal incident.

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