Latest news with #JaysleyBeck
BBC News
30-04-2025
- BBC News
Rape 'accepted way of life' say ex-forces women
"When you're in a male-dominated environment, you get spoken about like you're meat. Not as a colleague, a soldier or a friend."Those are the words of a young female soldier who joined the army at 17 - one of a group of women who have spoken to the BBC about their experiences while serving in the British have shared their harrowing stories after 19-year-old Royal Artillery Gunner Jaysley Beck took her own life. A coroner found the army's handling of a sexual assault complaint she had made had played "more than a minimal contributory part in her death".Former seaman Jennifer Gibson told us how she had been "devastated" after she says she was raped and sexually assaulted while serving in the Royal Navy. Another woman - who served in the RAF - claims she was dragged into woodland and gang-raped by a group of men, leaving her disabled. The men were found not guilty in a court martial. The Ministry of Defence (MoD) said the "unacceptable behaviour" reported by the women the BBC had spoken to "has no place in our Armed Forces". Ms Gibson, 50, who lives in Somerset, has waived her anonymity to speak out about her experience in the alleges she was raped while out drinking with a group of colleagues six months into her service, having been recruited in 2004."I felt as you do after being raped; really dirty, horrible, devastated," she said, adding that, at the time, it was an "accepted way of life" in the military, meaning "you've either got to leave or carry on with your career".Ms Gibson, who did not report the attack, claimed that people who alleged sexual assault were discharged prior to the introduction of the Armed Forces Act 2006 - legislation that underpins the justice system in the the following decade, she said there had been many other sexual incidents, many other "really uncomfortable" moments. But they also went unreported, classed as everyday said: "[Men] wouldn't think twice about getting partially undressed, that was normalised, all the abnormal became the normal. It was difficult to deal with." In 2014, she did report a time when she said she was sexually assaulted. There was an investigation and the alleged perpetrator was found not guilty by a court Ms Gibson, the strain had become too much. She was medically discharged from the Navy in 2018 for mental health-related reasons, against her claimed she was ordered to attend a psychiatric hospital where she was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression, despite her insisting she was well. 'Shameful institution' Another woman who joined the RAF in 1999, who preferred to remain anonymous, described the military as an "archaic" and "shameful" recalled how she had joined her colleagues for a celebratory night out to mark the end of six weeks' training. After returning to base camp, she said she had been struck over the head while walking along to the barracks and dragged into nearby said she had then been gang-raped by a group of six men in uniform."I always believed that I was in the safest place in the world on that camp. All my trust went," the 44-year-old following day, the men were overhead "boasting" about the attack and were reported to the military police sergeant. The victim was later told they had claimed it was "all her idea" to go into the woods."I had my head in my hands, considering what my life had become," she said. "I was in such a mess." The six men were eventually taken to court martial but found not guilty. Meanwhile, she was transferred to a different camp for a fresh start and soon discovered her "cards were already marked"."Everybody was warned about me as if I was a liar, as if I was making it up. I was a fantasist who just liked making complaints," she said."My career was already over because I had reported what happened, and that destroyed me."The experience left the woman suffering from brain damage, epilepsy, memory and speech difficulties, as well as PTSD and chronic depression. She was medically discharged in 2003."I will never advocate for joining the military," she said. "It's a shameful establishment and I think it needs to be fully investigated by a proper outside source." 'Spoken about like meat' Another woman, whom the BBC is not naming due to ongoing legal proceedings, said she had joined the Army as a teenager in search of travel and she was met with relentless "unwanted attention" from her male peers, and said she had not been believed after reporting sexual violence."When you're in a male-dominated environment, you get spoken about like you're meat. Not as a colleague, a soldier or a friend," she said. "You almost become oblivious to it because it's all you're used to." The woman, now in her early 20s, claimed she had been raped by a colleague – who was acquitted at court martial and is still serving - during training in an "abuse of power", she said she was also groomed into a sexual relationship by a sergeant major - the senior welfare officer assigned to her rape woman reported the grooming and the sergeant major was discharged for serious gross she said she had become regarded as the "problem child" by senior officers, some of whom described her as "attention-seeking" and "flirtatious".Due to PTSD symptoms following the alleged rape, military psychiatrists recommended her for medical discharge and she was forced to abandon her "dream career" in 2022."I thought they were there to help me," she said. "Instead, at the back of their minds, all they had were intentions to end my career." 'Punished for reports' Nicole Dodds, women's project lead at female veterans charity Salute Her UK, said many soldiers felt they had been misdiagnosed by military said women were "often" diagnosed with emotional unstable personality disorder. They were then deemed unfit for service and lost their careers."They are having to work alongside their perpetrator, even after reporting it," Ms Dodds continued. "They feel like they are being punished for reporting that crime."In order for victims to trust the judicial process, she said, investigations must "come out of the hands" of the military. A government spokesperson said the current of model of two different judicial systems for civilian and service personnel was under consideration, adding it had a "zero tolerance approach" to sexual MOD spokesperson said the government was creating a new complaints team which would remove "the most serious complaints" from the chain of command for each service for the first said new central taskforce had been set up "to give this issue the attention it deserves".The MoD is also in the process of setting up an independent Armed Forces commissioner who will have the power to visit defence sites unannounced and "to investigate and report to parliament on any welfare matters affecting service life". If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this story, you can visit the BBC Action Line to find information and support.
Sky News
19-03-2025
- Sky News
Jaysley Beck: Mother of soldier who took her own life says she has 'sleepless nights' knowing there are still abusers in the Army
The mother of a young soldier who took her own life says she has "sleepless nights" knowing there are abusers still serving in the Army. A coroner ruled that the Army's failure to take action after 19-year-old Royal Artillery Gunner Jaysley Beck was sexually assaulted by a more senior soldier and harassed by her line manager contributed to her death at Larkhill Camp in Wiltshire in 2021. One of the men has since left the Army but the other continues to serve. Jaysley Beck's mother, Leighann McCready, believes he has been protected by the Army. "Why should they continue to carry on serving when we're left absolutely heartbroken? We have to deal with this for the rest of our lives and it's not fair. It's absolutely not fair that no action's been taken." Reacting to the announcement that claims of sexual harassment in the Army will be removed from the chain of command and instead dealt with by a new, specialist taskforce, Ms McCready said it was a "step in the right direction" but added that "it should have happened a long time ago". One former soldier described how, after reporting an alleged rape, she discovered the officers dealing with her case had called her a whore. 0:57 Ms McCready praised the hundreds of servicewomen who have spoken out since her daughter's death and urged the Army to root out their abusers. "This causes me sleepless nights to know that they're still serving. It's heartbreaking. It's absolutely heartbreaking to think this is still going on. "All I want now is for action, for real action to be taken and to continue with the change and continue speaking up". A Ministry of Defence spokesperson said "the Army and MoD have undertaken to carefully analyse and assess all of HM Coroner's findings into the tragic death of Gunner Jaysley-Louise Beck. "There is no place for bullying, harassment, or discrimination in the military. This government is totally committed to making the reforms that are needed to stamp out inappropriate behaviour and hold people to account." On Tuesday the head of the Army, General Sir Roly Walker, told MPs "I absolutely recognise that we still have work to do. There are some recurring themes which we are addressing. Self-evidently, there continues to be a prevalence of bullying, harassment, and discrimination within our ranks. "We have to recognise that there are some cultural and structural barriers still."
The Guardian
21-02-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Jaysley Beck inquest prompts flood of testimonies of abuse in UK military
A soldier left suicidal after complaints about a senior officer were ignored. Two women told that they needed to grow up, or their heads would be banged together after they complained about sexual harassment by their major. A servicewoman raped and left with PTSD, while her attacker was given a slap on the wrist. Online army forums have been flooded with testimonies of abuse – and the military's failure to tackle it – this week, sparked by the inquest into the death of 19-year-old gunner Jaysley Beck. The head of the army, General Sir Roly Walker, has expressed his disgust and suggested that senior ranks may even be 'actively complicit' in abusive behaviour. The Ministry of Defence has promised that lessons will be learned. But longtime campaigners for change in the way sexual complaints in the military are dealt with have heard this all before. After an inquest this week found that the army played 'more than a contributory part' in the teenager's death, they have accused defence chiefs of paying 'lip service' to reform. Beck's family have led calls for the most serious complaints to be removed from the military entirely, calling directly on the prime minister to force change. The teenager killed herself after the army botched an investigation into her complaint of a sexual assault making her reluctant to report her boss when he launched an 'onslaught' against her. 'Too often, servicewomen and men don't feel able to speak up out of fear of being victimised and even when they do, the army is left to investigate itself,' said her family. 'This cannot continue.' Sarah Atherton, a former chair of the House of Commons defence subcommittee and an ex-servicewoman, is tired of promises. She points to other scandals, like women being treated as 'property' in the Red Arrows, submariners subjected to 'intolerable' misogyny. She notes a major review in 2019 and the damning parliamentary inquiry she led in 2021, which found that almost two-thirds of women in the armed forces had experienced bullying, sexual harassment and discrimination. 'I've spoken to countless service chiefs who are appalled at this abhorrent behaviour, who say it can't continue,' she says. 'They introduce initiatives, they introduce policies – yet nothing changes. It's lip service.' Evidence from more than a thousand people who shared testimonies on the military site Fill Your Boots and in closed forums after the inquest has been harrowing. One woman described a group of male soldiers trying to open her door after a night out: 'The next minute my door was flung open and they had used a boxing bag to barge the door,' she wrote. 'I was told it was my word against theirs.' Another described not wanting to leave her room after being hounded by an aggressive colleague. 'The [Royal Military Police] told me unless he had 'actually committed a crime' there was nothing they could do,' she wrote. A former commanding officer who had worked in complaints said weak leadership 'allowed poor behaviour to continue and at times flourish – often under the guise of workplace banter and fun'. The majority of testimonies appear to have come from women, but many men have also spoken out. One anonymous senior figure described his regret at not officially reporting an incident that saw two junior officers 'pull a bloke's trousers down and jam a finger right up his arse'. Another man described fellow soldiers forcing 'objects and parts of their own body into me', saying he sometimes slept outside to stay safe. The MoD has said that reforms have been made: the chain of command has been removed from the complaints system, anonymous hotlines have been introduced and 'zero-tolerance policies' made clear. After the inquest the veterans minister, Alistair Carns, said the MoD was 'deeply sorry for the failure' to protect Gunner Beck, the army would 'learn lessons' and 'substantive changes' were making the military safer. But the testimonies show that the complaints process can still be manipulated, says Atherton. 'The collusion, the loss of evidence, the misogyny, the old boy network, [it] is still going on,' she says. 'This has to be a moment for the MoD to look at itself and say: 'Did we do enough?' And the answer to that is, clearly, no.' Emma Norton, the founder of the Centre for Military Justice and a lawyer for Beck's family, argues that changes to the appeals system have made it more difficult to challenge an outcome, with only 6% of complainants the centre deals with now able to appeal, compared with about a quarter previously. 'Our experience of supporting women that go through the service complaints process to report discrimination, harassment and bullying is that it is appalling and brutalizing,' she says. Diane Allen, a retired lieutenant-colonel from the Independent Defence Authority, which helps victims in the military, hopes a promised independent defence commissioner, announced by the government earlier this month, will help. 'If the MoD is unable or unwilling to enact change, we need an independent figure to mandate it,' she says. 'Either there has to be some real backbone in military leadership, or parliament has to say we're not willing for the UK's reputation to keep being trashed by this.'
