'Help me decide what to do with my daughter's belongings' says mum of ex-soldier who took her own life

Royal Artillery Gunner Jaysley Beck, who was 19, was found dead in her barracks at Larkhill in Wiltshire on 15 December 2021.

She had filed a complaint against Battery Sergeant Major Michael Webber after he pinned her down and tried to kiss her at an Army social event.

Webber was later given a 'minor administrative action interview' over the work social event incident, with no further consequences.

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He was later promoted to Warrant Officer 1 (WO1) rank, the highest non-commissioned rank in the Army, in May 2022. Webber has now been sentenced to six months in prison at the Court Martial Centre in Bulford for his attack on Jaysley, who later took her own life.

In an interview with LBC, Gunner Beck's mother, Leighann McCready, said: "What would I like to see from him? Maybe he can come to my house. Empty the boxes and help me decide what I would do with my 19-year-old’s clothes, her belongings."

An inquest into Gunner Beck's death found that the Army's handling of the case had "more than a minimal contributory part in her death".

Gunner Beck reported the assault, despite attempts by members of her chain of command to persuade her not to. Her mother said she had done "everything right". "She reported the assault immediately, not once but twice."

She said the Army had failed her daughter by not reporting the sexual assault to the police. "If they had done that one simple thing, we believe with all our hearts she would still be with us today," she added.

The inquest into Gunner Beck's death also heard she faced harassment from her line manager, Bombardier Ryan Mason, who ‘bombarded’ her with phone messages.

Calls for fundamental reform of the complaints system have been raised multiple times in recent years. Two major reviews, in 2019 and 2021, called for a central service complaints team.

Leighann McCready told LBC: "it really needs independent sources to come in and support the soldiers and not all kept in house."

Emma Norton, Solicitor and Director of the Centre for Military Justice agrees with Ms McCready.

She says: "One of the major issues is the faith in the complaint system, because obviously if something happens to you, and it could happen to any of us in all walks of life, what you do is you complain about it.

"But the system that is available to people has been found by the Independent Ombudsman every year to be neither effective, efficient or fair.

"It doesn't work. And what that means is almost 80% of people that say they've had an experience like the kinds of things that Jaysley experienced, they don't even complain about it because they don't have faith in that system."

An Ministry of Defence spokesperson said: “Our thoughts remain with Jaysley-Louise Beck’s loved ones. Jaysley was a young and promising soldier who should have had the opportunity to thrive in a supportive and safe environment. Her death was and still is a tragedy, and we are deeply sorry for the failure to protect her.

“Unacceptable and criminal behaviour has absolutely no place in our Armed Forces. Since Jaysley’s death the Army has introduced clear and unequivocal policies to state that there will be Zero Tolerance to unacceptable sexual behaviours. These changes are being embedded throughout the culture, policies, and enduring practices across every part of the Army.

"The Government also announced the Violence against Women and Girls Taskforce and are creating the Tri-Service Complaints team to take the most serious complaints out of the chain of single Service command for the first time.”