Army has blood on its hands, says sister of soldier who killed herself after sex assault

Telegraph

21-02-2025

The Army has 'blood on its hands', the sister of a teenage soldier who took her own life after being sexually assaulted has said.
Royal Artillery Gunner Jaysley Beck, 19, was found hanged in her barracks at Larkhill Camp, Wiltshire, on Dec 15 2021.
An inquest concluded on Thursday that there was a 'systemic failure' by the Army to investigate the sexual assault and harassment she was subjected to by older colleagues and that contributed to her death.
Speaking publicly for the first time, Emilli Beck told The Telegraph that discovering how the Army tried to 'cover up' and dismiss her sister's complaints had left her feeling sick.
Emilli, 25, said that the inquest revealed senior officers who were supposed to look after young recruits, were only interested in 'covering their own backs'.
Smiling with pride as she spoke of her sister, she added: 'She was fantastic. She was confident. She was career driven and always her authentic self. She had the most positive outlook on life and seized any opportunity that came her way.'
She said that they were 'inseparable' and would talk daily over messages, phone calls, and FaceTime.
'We did everything together, holidays together, festivals together. I came and stayed with her down at camp. We ordered a Wagamamas, went for walks
'We truly were best friends, and always will be. Just because she's gone, that doesn't change anything.'
Gunner Beck took her own life after being subjected to a campaign of harassment by her 'manipulative and psychotic' boss and sexually assaulted by an older married officer.
She made a complaint about the assault, despite a senior officer trying to persuade her not to.
Battery Sergeant Major Michael Webber, 43, allegedly grabbed Gunner Beck round the neck, pinned her to the floor, and put his hand between her legs during a team building camp on Thorney Island, in West Sussex, in July 2021.
Her inquest heard that after Gunner Beck tried to raise a complaint, she was told by a senior officer, Major James Hook, to consider what it might do to BSM Webber's career, his wife, and his child.
When interviewed, Major Hook said that Gunner Beck had been 'whinging' and told the inquest he had 'suspicions' that the young soldier may have made up the assault as an 'excuse' to get away from a team building event.
Despite that, Gunner Beck did make a complaint.
However, she only received a letter of apology from her attacker, as the Army deemed it was only 'inappropriate behaviour unbecoming of a warrant officer'.
Emilli said that the Army had tried to manipulate her sister's allegations and 'sweep them under the carpet'.
She said: 'We encouraged her to speak up, which she did, but it never got anywhere, she got a written letter of apology.
'If that's what the Army think is suitable action to take for sexual harassment, then I just don't think any girl that is thinking of joining has much hope.
'It needed to be handled by the police, but [the Army] covered their own backs and skipped out vital information that could have ultimately left us with Jaysley still here today. I think for that they've got blood on their hands.'
Emma Norton, a lawyer from the Centre for Military Justice, said that initially the Army had tried to claim Gunner Beck's death was partly a result of 'family issues'.
Ms Norton pointed out that the most damning conclusion from the inquest was that the failings to investigate were systemic.
She added: 'The Army systems that are supposed to kick in when precisely this kind of thing happens, didn't.
'Though an adult, Jaysley was so young and had such little power or control over the many dysfunctional men whose conduct we have heard so much about.
'She could not rely upon the Army to help her to deal with these overwhelming behaviours.'
Gunner Beck's boss, former Bombardier Ryan Mason, who the inquest found had harassed the teenager by sending thousands of messages saying he was in love with her, had told the Army after her death that there were problems at home.
An Army service inquiry report published in October 2023 concluded this was a contributory factor in her taking her own life.
Ms Norton said: 'That was a deliberate breadcrumb trail left by Ryan Mason to try and deflect attention from his own abhorrent conduct.
'What's shocking, is not so much that Mason should have done that, of course, that's the sort of thing he would have done, it's that the Army in their service inquiry took that and ran with it.
'That is outrageous, a really outrageous stain on the family, and it meant that at a time when they should have been focusing on Jaysley and what had happened and why this thing had happened, they were distracted by this awful allegation that they were somehow responsible for it.'
Emilli said it was 'another prime example of the Army trying to deflect the blame away from themselves'.
'[The] Army will believe that, but don't believe that she was sexually assaulted and sexually harassed,' she said.
Describing her younger sibling as her 'best friend', Emilli, who now lives in Australia, said that she had been 'everything I aspire to be'.
Earlier this week, Leighann McCready, Jaysley's mother, told the hearing she was 'disgusted' that neither of the two men who tormented her daughter had been prosecuted.
Det Insp Eirin Martin, of Wiltshire Police, also said that while there was an 'investigation' into 'looking at' claims of harassment, it was ultimately dropped.
Brigadier Melissa Emmett told the inquest the Army 'should have done more', saying: 'We let her down in so many ways.'
A government minister said following the inquest that the Army will 'reflect on the evidence heard' at the inquest to 'learn lessons from the coroner's findings'.