Ex-army sergeant major who sexually assaulted teenage soldier months before her death is jailed

A former senior Army sergeant major has been jailed for sexually assaulting a teenage soldier who later took her own life.

Warrant Officer Michael Webber last month pleaded guilty at the Court Martial Centre in Bulford, Wiltshire, to assaulting Royal Artillery Gunner Jaysley Beck in an attack that left her “severely frightened” and feeling “powerless and betrayed”, according to her family.

The 19-year-old soldier’s body was found at Larkhill Camp in Wiltshire on 15 December 2021 – five months after the incident, following which, her mother said: “I saw the change in her with my own eyes – my bright, confident daughter became quiet and withdrawn.”

But Gunner Beck’s family stressed that it was the combined impact of the assault as well as the way it was later handled by the authorities, including the pressure put on her to not make a police report, that “shattered her faith in the system that was supposed to look after her”.

A court heard a service inquiry conducted in 2023 also found that Gunner Beck “had been subject to a number of inappropriate behaviours by senior personnel in months before her death”, of which Webber was only one.

Webber was sentenced to six months imprisonment at the Court Martial Centre in Bulford, Wiltshire, on Friday. He has already left the Army so the judge said he could not be dismissed, but Webber was also “sent to the ranks”, which means he has been demoted to the lowest possible rank in the military.

In a victim impact statement read to the hearing, Gunner Beck’s mother Leighann McCready said: “I truly believe what he did and how it was handled broke something inside her that she couldn’t repair.”

Her sister Emilli Beck added: “I feel my sister was shamefully manipulated by Michael Webber, then by those who protected him, encouraging her to think about the impact a formal report would have on Michael Webber’s family and career and discouraging her from taking it further.”

Describing Webber’s behaviour as leaving him “sick to my stomach”, Gunner Beck’s father Anthony Beck said: “What he did didn’t just hurt Jaysley, it tore through our family. It will haunt me for the rest of my life. The world keeps moving, but mine has stopped. Whatever sentence he’s given, it will never come close to the life service I’m serving without my daughter.”

During an inquest into her death, Coroner Nicholas Rheinberg ruled that “on the balance of probabilities” Gunner Beck had been sexually assaulted by a senior colleague, and the Army’s failure to take appropriate action “more than minimally” contributed to her death.

The coroner added that Gunner Beck’s complaint about being sexually assaulted on a stay during a training exercise at Thorney Island in Hampshire “should have been reported to police and the failure to do so breached Army policy”.

On Friday, the court heard Webber told Gunner Beck she was “beautiful” before “he put a hand on the back of her head in order to kiss her and also touched her thigh” while at the adventure training exercise in July 2021. Despite her asking him to stop, he continued, the hearing was told, leaving Gunner Beck too afraid to return to her accomodation and forced to hide from him in the toilet, before later sleeping in her car that night for safety.

The court heard Gunner Beck, who joined the Army at 16, “made a number of reports” about the incident in the immediate days afterwards, including to her mother, friends and chain of command. However, her chain of command chose to deal with her complaint as a “minor administrative” issue, prosecutor Commodore James Farrant told the hearing. “I’m sure the court will find that whatever its justification, it was not appropriate this issue was dealt with administratively,” he said. “It meant no police involvement could take place.”

Webber admitted to his “unacceptable behaviour” in an interview and wrote Gunner Beck a letter of apology, shortly after which he was promoted, the court heard. Gunner Beck later told her mother that “I got a letter, he got a promotion” in words Ms McCready said “has echoed in my head ever since”.

Emilli Beck said Webber should have been stripped of his rank “immediately” and a proper investigation should have been launched the morning after the incident. “I wholeheartedly believe that would’ve made all the difference and we would not be here today if that had happened,” she said.

Emma Norton, a solicitor from the Centre for Military Justice (CMJ), which has been representing the family, described the behaviour and lack of appropriate action taken by the Army as “outrageous” and “unconscionable”.

Lucy Baston, another lawyer at the CMJ, which supports women in the UK Armed Forces, said: “Many of the women we support have been harassed, raped or sexually assaulted during the course of their service. These women tell us about the barriers which they continue to face when they try to speak to their Chain of Command (CoC) in the aftermath of these incidents, just as Jaysley did in 2021. In many of our cases, we see that the CoC has not followed the relevant policies that are in place to safeguard and support victims of sexual crimes.

“The result is that some women suffer in silence, they do not report serious sexual offences to the police, and they do not complain about sexual harassment. This can have devastating consequences, which is what Jaysley’s family have helped to highlight in the aftermath of her death.”

After the inquest, the Army said it “should have done so much more to support and protect” Gunner Beck.

Webber is “devastated” and accepts his actions “contributed in some way to the tragic outcome” when Gunner Beck took her own life five months after he assaulted her, his lawyer Mr Matthew Scott told the court. “He makes no excuse for what he did.”

If you are experiencing feelings of distress, or are struggling to cope, you can speak to the Samaritans, in confidence, on 116 123 (UK and ROI), email jo@samaritans.org, or visit the Samaritans website to find details of your nearest branch