Jaysley Beck's sister says army is 'not safe' for women
The sister of a 19-year-old soldier who took her own life after being sexually assaulted has said the army is not a "safe space for women."Royal Artillery Gunner Jaysley Beck was found dead in her barracks at Larkhill Camp in Wiltshire on 15 December 2021, after a Christmas party.This week a coroner ruled the Army's failure to take action after Gunner Beck was harassed by her line manager and sexually assaulted by another colleague contributed to her death. The Army has apologised and said "significant changes" had been made, but Gunner Beck's sister, Emilli Beck, said she wanted an independent body to "handle the most serious cases" in the future.
Emilli Beck told BBC Radio 4's Today programme she would not advise other women to join the Army."I just don't think it's a safe space for women at this time. I think it's scary and I certainly wouldn't advise it," she said.She said her sister "never got believed" after she made a complaint against Battery Sergeant Major Michael Webber following an incident at a work social."It took her a lot of courage to speak up," she said. "She trusted that the Army would have dealt with this appropriately and they just never did."An inquest into the death of Gunner Beck, originally from Oxen Park in Cumbria, found she was also subject to relentless harassment by her line manager, Bombadier Ryan Mason. Emilli Beck said her sister did not want to report the harassment after "she wasn't believed the first time." "It's sort of as the saying goes - once bitten, twice shy," she said."She didn't want to be seen as that girl who sort of made these accusations and nothing got done of it."Coroner Nicholas Rheinberg ruled the Army's failure to take appropriate action over the "frightening" incidents "more than minimally" contributed to her death.""I find there was a failure on behalf of the Army to take action over the harassment she was suffering from her line manager," he concluded."And there was a failure on behalf of the Army to take action against the senior officer at whose hands she'd suffered a sexual assault."
Brigadier Melissa Emmett, head of the Army personnel services group, has apologised to Gunner Beck's family.She said "significant changes" had been made within the Army, including the "introduction of clear and unequivocal policies to state that there will be zero tolerance to unacceptable sexual behaviours"."There is more work to do," she said."It is my hope that such change will give service personnel the confidence they need to report sexual offences and inappropriate behaviours, knowing that they will be listened to."But Emilli Beck said more needed to be done, to prevent similar things happening in the future."I can appreciate them talking about measures that are going to be put in place, but these measures were always there, they were just never followed," she said."I think the culture of the Army needs to change and the rules and that being changed to be able to investigate."The pain that we felt in the last three and a half years is pain that I would never want another family to go through."
'Incredible person'
"Jaysley lived her true authentic self, she was just an incredible person," Ms Beck added."She brought life to everybody's life, she was just so happy, she always stayed the same."
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