Coroner rules Connor Bell's death 'accidental' after drunk friend mistook air rifle trigger for safety catch at Basingstoke party

Connor Bell, 17, of Tadley, died at Southampton General Hospital two days after a pellet fired from an air rifle by his friend Jack Beechy struck him at a house party in Chineham, Basingstoke, on 8 November 2025. The shot entered his right eye socket, producing a fatal brain injury and triggering cardiac arrest. A Winchester inquest on Wednesday returned a verdict of accidental death, with coroner Jason Pegg finding there had been a 'real risk and degree of inevitability' of an accident among drunk teenagers handling a firearm.

Beechy, then 17, was 'a little bit drunk' when he fired, having assumed the rifle was unloaded and confused the trigger with the safety catch.

Connor's family said that CPR performed by his friends at the scene gave him the chance to donate his organs and preserve other lives, earning him a posthumous Order of St John.

Beechy, now 18, faced arrest on suspicion of grievous bodily harm, but prosecutors, after consulting Connor's family, determined he should face no further action.