Teenage soldier 'let down' after sexual assault

A teenage soldier was "let down" by two senior officers when she "told each of them enough to understand that she may have been sexually assaulted" five months before she took her own life, a court martial has heard.

Royal Artillery Gunner Jaysley Beck, from Cumbria, was found dead in her barracks at Larkhill Camp in Wiltshire on 15 December 2021, months after former Battery Sgt Michael Webber "pinned her down" and sexually assaulted her.

Although the 19-year-old reported the incident, the chain of command failed to properly deal with the case, the court was told.

Maj James Hook and Col Samantha Shepherd are on trial accused of conduct prejudicial to good order and service discipline.

The Service Prosecution Authority charged Hook and Shepherd over their handling of the case earlier this year.

Commander Patterson, prosecuting, said Hook - who was a captain at the time - did not treat the report from Gunner Beck "in a manner consistent with its seriousness".

He also told the court that Shepherd "deliberately misreported what she had been told".

At the first day of the trial at the Military Court Centre in Catterick, North Yorkshire, the court heard that Webber sexually assaulted Gunner Beck during a team training away day at Thorney Island, near Emsworth in Hampshire, on 12 July 2021.

The team event extended into the early hours of 13 July, until Gunner Beck and Webber were left drinking alone together when he "pinned her down", touched her leg and tried to kiss her multiple times.

The former Warrant Officer was jailed for six months last year after he admitted the offence against Gunner Beck.

Following the sexual assault, Gunner Beck phoned a colleague and confided in them before she spent the night asleep in her car out of fear that Webber would assault her again.

Lance Bombardier Drew Tudor - who had been drinking with Gunner Beck and Webber earlier that night - found her in a "distressed" and "visibly shaken" state in her car the following day.

He added that he "pleaded" with Gunner Beck to pass the report up the chain of command.

Tudor said he was not in a position to ask Gunner Beck the "specific details" but he would have "assisted her" if she had divulged full details about what had happened with Webber.

"What she said was he tried it on with her, he touched her or tried to touch her," he told the court.

Tudor later found Hook and brought him to the car so that Gunner Beck could tell him about the sexual assault too.

Hook agreed that the incident was "serious" and later phoned a more senior officer at the barracks to report that Webber had "made a pass" at Gunner Beck.

He also gave her until noon to decide if she wanted to file a complaint against Webber.

Patterson said Shepherd discussed the incident with Gunner Beck on a walk but then deliberately failed to pass all the information on to Capt Mae King - the adjutant at the 14 Regiment Royal Artillery, who was responsible for discipline.

He said Shepherd failed to mention the touching or attempted touching and said there was "no contact", despite being questioned by King.

In a prepared statement given to military police, Shepherd said she believed she had disclosed the touching allegation but she said she could not be sure.

Patterson said the prosecution's case was that it was "simply not possible, equally not credible, that Capt King had forgotten about being told about the touch" and that Shepherd "deliberately decided to suppress detail about touching" to prevent the service police getting involved with the case.

"It is not Col Shepherd's job to edit information - she should have told the truth," he told the court.

"She knew this would go to the service police."

King told the court that Shepherd had said that Webber had made an "inappropriate pass" at Gunner Beck.

"I confirmed that he hadn't kissed her, that he hadn't touched her and it had been an attempt as opposed to an act," she said.

King made a range of consultations - including with the Royal Military Police (RMP) - before she made the recommendation to Shepherd about a course of action based on what she had been told.

She added that the RMP ruled the incident was "not a crime" because "there was no touching".

The Army apologised after an inquest into Gunner Beck's death found that the handling of her complaint against Webber had played "more than a minimal contributory part into her death".

The trial continues.

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