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4 hours ago
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Colleagues of a 19-year-old soldier found dead in her barracks room after allegedly being sexually assaulted by an officer twice her age have strongly criticised how her complaint about the incident was dealt with.
One colleague of Gnr Jaysley Beck confirmed at her inquest he was “incensed” that WOI Michael Webber was only subject to a “minor sanction” after he allegedly pinned the teenager down and tried to kiss her during an adventure training exercise.
The colleague told the inquest in Salisbury that this lack of action meant that when Beck received a string of unwanted romantic messages from her immediate boss, Bdr Ryan Mason, she felt she could not report him as she did not want to be seen as “that girl” who constantly put in complaints.
Another colleague said Beck considered the letter of apology from Webber “pathetic” and he told the inquest he felt that her complaint had been “brushed under”.
Beck, who joined the army when she was 17 and served with the Royal Artillery, was found dead in her room at Larkhill camp in Wiltshire in December 2021.
Bdr George Young, a friend and colleague, described her as a lively, confident woman, who was exception at her job and lit up the room.
He said she had told him about the incident involving 39-year-old Webber in July 2021 and told him her complaint had been “squashed”.
Young said: “He wasn’t removed from post or anything. What I know about how the disciplinary system is supposed to work is, apology or not, that person should be removed from post while being investigated.”
The assistant coroner Nicholas Rheinberg suggested to Young he appeared “incensed”. He replied: “100%.” He said: “I think that an apology letter shouldn’t even be offered in that situation. Why is that an acceptable outcome for that, especially with someone holding such a high rank?”
Young said that when Beck told him about Mason’s behaviour towards her, which she considered “psychotic and possessive”, he encouraged her to report him.
But he said: “She didn’t want to seem like that girl that was constantly putting in complaints. She was worried that she’d just be seen as causing drama. She loved the job – the biggest fear was being taken off the team. She was worrying they would just remove her from the situation rather than deal with the issue.”
Bdr Braddon Haigh told the inquest that Beck had described the letter of apology from Webber as “pathetic”.
“I saw it and briefly read it, and I just remember her saying it was pathetic, an easy win for him to write the letter,” he said.
“That whole team clearly looked out for each other in a way that if someone comes with a service complaint it is just brushed under, write your letter, done and dusted. If she can’t come forward when there is solid evidence about a sergeant major what good is the system?”
Webber appeared at the inquest on Wednesday and refused to answer questions about the alleged sexual assault.
The hearing continues.
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In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123 or email [email protected] or [email protected]. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at www.befrienders.org.
