Two officers face court martial over handling of Jaysley Beck sexual assault case

Two British Army officers have been charged over the handling of a case of sexual assault against teenage soldier Jaysley Beck, who later took her own life.

Gunner Beck, 19, was found hanged in her barracks in Larkhill Camp, Wiltshire, in 2021 after her allegations against a former sergeant were not taken seriously.

Former Battery sergeant Michael Webber, 43, was jailed for six months by a military court last year after pleading guilty to sexually assaulting Gunner Beck five months before she died.

An earlier inquest found that the incident and the Army’s failure to take appropriate action ‘more than minimally’ contributed to her death.

It is understood Major James Hook and Colonel Samantha Shepherd will face a court martial over their actions relating to Gunner Beck’s case.

Webber had engaged Gunner Beck in a drinking game before touching her thigh and trying to kiss her.

Gunner Beck pushed Webber away and spent the night locked in her car before making a complaint to her superiors in the morning.

But it was dealt with as a minor incident because a ‘miscommunication’ led to the allegation about him trying to touch her leg being left out of the complaint that was passed up the chain of command, the inquest heard.

The incident was not reported to police and Webber wrote a letter of apology to Gunner Beck.

He was later promoted.

A Ministry of Defence spokesperson said on Friday: ‘Following an investigation by the Defence Serious Crime Command, we can confirm two individuals have been charged with offences under Section 19, Armed Forces Act (conduct prejudicial to good order and service discipline).

‘It would be inappropriate to comment further as legal proceedings are ongoing.’

Gunner Beck’s mother, Leighann McCready, said in a statement she remained ‘very unhappy’ with parts of the Army’s response.

She said: ‘After the inquest into the death of our daughter, we wrote to the Chief of the General Staff and pointed out the multiple Army failings in the chain of command that had led to her death.

‘As a consequence of that, he directed that our concerns be referred to the service police and we are relieved finally to have reached this stage today where two individuals have been charged.

‘It wouldn’t be appropriate to comment further on the latest court cases until they are over.

‘But we can say we remain very unhappy with other parts of the Army’s response.

‘We were promised an new independent complaints process for service people – especially young women like Jaysley who often have to deal with very difficult and challenging situations – we have heard nothing further about this and as far as we can tell, young women are still not benefiting from it, almost a year on from the inquest and more than four years on from Jaysley’s death.

‘We feel constantly as though we have to push the Army to change and it is completely exhausting.’

Since Gunner Beck’s death, the Ministry of Defence has set up a serious crime command and launched a violence against women and girls taskforce, and more recently has agreed in principle to remove the handling of serious complaints from the individual services.

Al Carns, minister for the armed forces, said last year: ‘I think the Gunner Beck case was a horrendous failing of the system.

‘What I can tell you is in the last several years there’s been lots of changes – in the last year we’ve really made a proactive move to create the correct systems so no woman ever feels alone again in defence.’

The inquest last year in Salisbury, Wiltshire, heard that Gunner Beck had spoken with Maj Hook, who had organised the training event at Thorney Island, the day after she had been assaulted by Webber.

In his summing up of the evidence, assistant coroner Nicholas Rheinberg said: ‘He asked Jaysley what outcome she wanted, and she said that she did not want anything bad to happen to Webber. She did not want anything to harm his career.

‘In his evidence to the inquest, Maj Hook said that he could not reconcile the complaint that Jaysley was making with her wish that no action should be taken against Webber.

‘He was of the view that Jaysley did not want to be on the course.

‘In support of this view, he cited the fact that on the previous day she had volunteered to take a participant back to camp for welfare reasons and the fact that she was now seeking to leave the exercise.

‘He made Jaysley aware of the career ramifications to Webber if she made a complaint.

‘He pointed out to her the fact that there were no witnesses to the incident.

‘He suspected, he said, that the allegation of an assault was an excuse to enable Jaysley to avoid completing the course.

‘When asked to come off the course, Jaysley in a contemporaneous WhatsApp message recorded that Maj Hook had pointed out that the course cost money, she was in the British Army and she was paid to do the course.

‘It is hardly surprising that subsequently Jaysley told friends that Maj Hook had accused her of lying.’

In his evidence to the service inquiry, Maj Hook said: ‘I was conscious of the fact initially that was this something that she was generating for an excuse to get away from Thorney Island and away from the training which she’d already made perfectly clear to me that she wasn’t enjoying and didn’t really want to be a part of.’

The coroner added: ‘At the very least Maj Hook at the time of the service inquiry knew of the fact that Webber had admitted improper conduct towards Jaysley, making it strange that even then he was implying deception on Jaysley’s behalf.

‘Instead of investigating Jaysley’s complaint further, Maj Hook, having emphasised the effect that the complaint would have on Webber’s career, and having stressed the fact that there were no witnesses, told Jaysley to mull the matter over before deciding what action to take.

‘Maj Hook had left it with Jaysley to make a decision as to how to proceed and had then gone out to continue the activities.

‘On the balance of probabilities I determine that Maj Hook informed no-one of Jaysley’s allegations until the cat was out of the bag, as it were.’

Col Shepherd, who was the senior officer present at Thorney Island, told the inquest she had ordered the social event to finish at midnight and the following day heard about the incident between Webber and Gunner Beck.

The coroner said: ‘She went for a walk with Jaysley and Jaysley said that Webber had tried to kiss her and had touched her leg.

‘At the time she had not appreciated that the allegations constituted the crime of sexual assault although she did now.

‘She did not doubt Jaysley’s word as to what had happened for one moment.

‘She regarded the matter as a serious breach of discipline.’

In her evidence to the inquest, Col Shepherd ‘denied being deliberately a party to a cover-up in downplaying the accusation’.

‘She had taken legal advice on the matter and had followed that advice,’ the coroner said.

‘However, she was of the view that dealing with the matter by way of minor administrative action was entirely inappropriate.

‘It was Col Shepherd’s direction that action against Webber should be by way of minor administrative action, somewhat at odds with her previous declaration that this was not appropriate.

‘It appears that categorising the complaint as suitable for minor administrative action relied on the assumption that there had been no actual touching during Webber’s advances on Jaysley.

‘It was not clear how this important component was left out of the mix.

‘It was Col’s Shepherd’s sworn testimony that in the original draft of the details of the offence the fact that Webber had touched Jaysley’s leg was included, but that in the final draft this was excluded.’

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