SERGEANT Luke Taylor, a man full of life and love for his family, was laid to rest.

Christchurch Priory was packed for the noon service as people paid their final respects to the 33-year-old Royal Marine from Burton.

Church staff estimated there were 650 mourners including dozens of serving Royal Marines in dress uniform.

Luke’s devastated wife Niki paid tribute and spoke of her emptiness after losing her “soulmate”. She followed the Union flag-draped coffin from the church, carrying their son Roan, aged three.

A Royal Marines funeral party fired three volleys as the coffin was passed into a hearse for a private internment at Hinton Park.

Luke was shot by a rogue Afghan soldier on March 26 at the main British base in the capital of Helmand. Four years ago, in 2008, Luke had phoned his wife from Afghanistan to ask her to attend the Priory for the funeral of another Burton Royal Marine, Neil Dunstan, on his behalf.

Cllr Colin Jamieson said outside the church: “It’s exceptional for a small village such as ours to lose two marines.”

The service yesterday remembered a man whose pride in being a Royal Marine was only surpassed by his love for his family.

Luke’s younger brother Jake remembered going camping with a friend in The Purbecks, then seeking shelter at Langton Matravers because the weather was terrible.

Next morning, they went to the cave where they had planned to spend the night and found Luke, sleeping, after he made his own way out and spent all night searching for his brother.

The service was conducted by the Rev Peter Rickman, who knew the family from children’s church sessions in Bransgore.

He said: “Luke served to protect and promote the values in which our very nation was built – freedom, justice and peace.”

He also remembered how Luke read bedtime stories to Roan from Afghanistan using Skype.

The service mixed hymns such as Jerusalem and Eternal Father, Strong to Save, with modern music. The coffin was carried in to Swords of a Thousand Men by Tenpole Tudor, and during the time to reflect the congregation heard A Thing Called Love by The Darkness, which was Luke and Niki’s song.

Luke had a sensitive job, the nature of which has not been disclosed, but he was not a member of the Poole-based SBS when he died. An officer paying tribute, who was not named, said Luke last year joined a unit drawn from volunteers in all three services “whose work, for all the right reasons, goes largely unacknowledged”.

She said he threw himself into his new role with enthusiasm and dedication and proved himself “one of our most talented new operators”.

She added: “Luke’s operational impact in Afghanistan was immediate and effective. His good work now forms the foundations for the continued accomplishments of his teammates.”

People lined Christchurch High Street for the funeral cortege, some applauding it, and it arrived at the Priory to dipped standards from local veterans’ groups.

Sharky Ward, 73, from Canford Heath, from the Royal Marines Association, Poole, said he had spoken to Niki the day before the service and said it was a “great honour” to pay their respects to a “first-class man”.

People consistently described Luke as a man full of energy and laughter. Paul Carter, 39, from Winton, a hooker with Bournemouth’s Oakmedians rugby club, where Luke played at fullback, said Luke had once broken his leg during a game.

“He got taken off the field,” said Paul after the service. “Later that day we got a phone call – he had signed himself out of hospital and he wanted to come out drinking with us.”

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