A young soldier was killed when the armoured vehicle he was commanding overturned during a military exercise.

Lance Corporal Tony Carr, 21, died instantly when he was thrown from a Saxon armoured personnel carrier near Salisbury Plain.

His devastated parents, Brian and Patsy, Grangetown, Sunderland, spoke of their shock at the sudden death of their only son.

Mr Carr, 54, said: "He was our hero and he died doing what he loved doing. A big light has gone out in our life for ever."

Lance Corporal Carr, a former pupil of St Aidan's School in Sunderland, had been a member of the elite Coldstream Guards for the past four years.

Just weeks ago, his proud parents watched on as their son provided the official guard for the Queen at the state opening of Parliament.

While returning to his Aldershot base after a training exercise, the vehicle he was commanding overturned, instantly killing him.

A full Ministry of Defence (MoD) investigation is now under way into the tragedy.

A full military funeral is expected to follow.

The Ministry of Defence today said it was looking into the cause of the accident.

A spokesman said: "An investigation is automatically carried out into any fatal accident to try to establish exactly what happened and what lessons can be learned." .