A 19-year-old soldier found dead in her room at an army camp alleged that a senior officer had pinned her down and tried to kiss her, an inquest has heard.
Royal Artillery Gnr Jaysley Beck was found dead at Larkhill camp in Wiltshire on 15 December 2021. The inquest into her death has heard that she had made a complaint against a senior officer, BSM Michael Webber, during a stay at Thorney Island, near Emsworth in Hampshire, in July 2021.
On Monday the inquest heard that Beck received thousands of messages from another senior colleague, Bdr Ryan Mason, whom she described as being “psychotic and possessive”.
An army service inquiry report published in October 2023 described this as “an intense period of unwelcome behaviour” and said it was “almost certain this was a causal factor” in her death. It said the Thorney Island incident was “possibly a factor that may have influenced her failure to report other events that happened subsequently”.
On Tuesday, L/Bdr Kirsty Davis, who trained with Beck at Harrogate when they both joined the army, told the hearing in Salisbury that her friend had called her in the early hours concerning the incident on Thorney Island.
She said Beck told her that “something happened that night, they were all having a few drinks, someone tried it on with her”.
The inquest heard that Davis made a statement saying “he was trying to kiss her and she was trying to push him away, he was pinning her down”.
The hearing was also told of a message sent by Beck that said Webber was “grabbing the back of my neck for a kiss”.
The inquest heard that Webber, who is now at WOII rank, was made subject to a “minor sanction” after Beck made a complaint and he wrote a letter of apology to her.
Davis said in her statement: “Jaysley wasn’t happy with what had happened but if you are in the army and a lower rank, no one will believe you, especially against a higher rank.”
Davis agreed with a barrister representing the family that female soldiers could get a “bad reputation” for reporting harassment in the army. She said other women she knew had had to leave the forces after reporting allegations of abuse.
The army inquiry service report on Beck’s death said family issues, including a bereavement, were also responsible for her death, which her family reject.
It detailed three “contributory factors” to Beck’s death: the “significant strain” of a sexual relationship with a married colleague in the last few weeks of her life; a relationship that ended in November 2021 which involved “repeated allegations of unfaithfulness on the part of the boyfriend”; and an “unhealthy approach to alcohol, with episodes of binge drinking”.
It said Beck had no diagnosed mental health conditions and had not sought welfare support from anyone in the army.
The hearing continues.
