A female teenage soldier who tragically took her own life after her male commanding officer subjected her to relentless sexual harassment sent him a series of messages begging him to stop and warning he was harming her mental health.
Royal Artillery Gunner Jaysley-Louise Beck, 19, killed herself after an ‘intense period of unwelcome behaviour’ from a superior who now faces being discharged from the Army, an official investigation into her death has found.
Despite the damning findings, the senior officer has been granted anonymity, and a copy of the report released to the public has been heavily redacted – obscuring a series of key details.
The report includes a series of texts Gunner Beck sent to the senior officer – her immediate boss – which provide a harrowing insight into her declining mental state and desperate attempts to stop him harassing her.
In November 2021, the teenager’s superior sent her more than 3,500 WhatsApp messages and voicemails in which he described how much he craved a relationship with her. At one point Gunner Beck drafted a message calling the officer ‘possessive and psychotic’.
The report also highlights missed opportunities to prevent the tragedy. On December 9, less than a week before she passed, Gunner Beck apparently suffered a ‘severe panic attack’.
She also described ‘suicidal feelings’ to a colleague, who subsequently gave evidence to the inquiry, and discussed how she was suffering from ‘night terrors’.
Royal Artillery Gunner Jaysley-Louise Beck, 19, killed herself after an ‘intense period of unwelcome behaviour’ from a superior
The report includes a series of texts Gunner Beck sent to the – her immediate boss – which provide a harrowing insight into her declining mental state and desperate attempts to stop him harassing her
On November 15, Gunner Beck messaged the man: ‘You can’t keep doing this to me… I’ve just got out of a relationship & now I feel like I’m in one again.’
By early the next month, Gunner Beck’s tolerance for his relentless harassment had reached a limit and she texted him to say: ‘It’s not normal how you feel… but I can’t be there to support you with it because the way you feel for me is the main issue & I can’t handle it anymore’ and ‘it’s weighing me down.’
On December 7, she asked to be removed from a task that evening because she could no longer cope with his behaviour towards her.
In a message she had drafted she described his thoughts towards her as ‘possessive and psychotic’, although she later deleted the words.
In the text she did send she described feeling trapped by his actions and said she had spoken to her family about the situation and they were worried.
Her message explained she had been reduced to tears, adding: ‘The truth is I’m struggling to deal with all this, it’s taking a huge toll on my mental health for many potential reasons. I need time out.’
The conduct of Gunner Beck’s immediate boss was ‘almost certain’ to be a ‘causal factor’ in her death at Larkhill Camp, Wiltshire in December 2021, the report found. An Army investigation said her boss wanted to start a sexual relationship with Ms Beck, who told him she was already with someone and did not reciprocate his feelings.
The report concluded: ‘Mental wellbeing warning signs were clearly present in the weeks before her death but these were missed, most likely due to insufficient awareness of mental health matters among the personnel to whom she was known.
‘Some witnesses also stated they thought there was still a stigma attached to seeking help for mental health problems in the Army.’
The conduct of Gunner Beck’s immediate boss was ‘almost certain’ to be a ‘causal factor’ in her death at Larkhill Camp, Wiltshire in December 2021, a report found
Her mother Leighann McCready (pictured) told the BBC: ‘She was fed up with his behaviour, it started ruining a job she really enjoyed doing. She was always down’
Another male soldier, who is said to have sexually assaulted Gunner Beck on a night out, has already been punished.
The soldier’s emotional mother Leighann McCready told the BBC yesterday: ‘She was fed up with his behaviour, it started ruining a job she really enjoyed doing. She was always down.
‘You think the easiest solution is to block him [on your phone], but you can’t just block your boss.’
The 19-year-old called her mother the night after she was sexually assaulted by another male soldier, who held the rank of Warrant Officer.
Ms McCready said: ‘She said he put his hands between her legs and tried to grab her from around the neck. She shouted: ”Get off me, Sir”.
‘That night she slept in her car, as she was afraid if she went to bed he would have come into her room. She also told a female friend, who was on guard duty, to stay on the phone until I fall asleep and just listen. And she hears anything, just ring for help.’
The sexual allegation was reported to army chiefs by one of Gunner Beck’s colleagues and resulted into the perpetrator receiving a minor sanction and writing her an apology letter.
The punishment apparently seemed lenient to Gunner Beck and may have influenced her decision not to subsequently report her boss for sending thousands of unsolicited messages.
Ms McCready added: ‘She was saying ”you don’t get listened to, so what’s the point?” She thought she would be seen as a female troublemaker.’
The report says that on December 9, less than a week before she died, Gunner Beck apparently suffered a ‘severe panic attack’. She also described ‘suicidal feelings’ to a colleague, who subsequently gave evidence to the inquiry.
An Army investigation said her boss wanted to start a sexual relationship with Ms Beck, who told him she was already with someone and did not reciprocate his feelings.
His misconduct included controlling behaviour, bombarding her with thousands of text messages and phone calls and attempting to ensure they were always working together.
The report said: ‘This behaviour stems from the fact that it appears he wanted a relationship with her and had developed feelings for her which were not reciprocated.
‘While this behaviour ended the week before her death, it appears that it continued to affect her and had taken a significant toll on her mental resilience and well-being.
‘The panel’s assessment of the evidence was that it is almost certain that this was a causal factor in her death.’
Gunner Beck joined the Royal Regiment of Artillery, which is headquartered at Larkhill, at 16
An Army inquiry into her death heard evidence from witnesses about inappropriate sexual behaviour by male soldiers towards their female colleagues at Larkhill
The report also notes she was having an affair with a married Royal Artillery soldier who held a much higher rank.
It concludes that maintaining secrecy around that relationship ‘affected her state of mind and was likely to have been a contributory factor’. This SNCO (Senior Non-Commissioned Officer) socialised with Gunner Beck on the night she took her life and her mood was said to have plummeted when he left the Christmas party.
Gunner Beck had joined the Army in 2019 aged just 16. She began recruit training at the Army Foundation College (AFC) at Harrogate before joining 47 Regiment, Royal Artillery.
An Army inquiry into her death heard evidence from witnesses about inappropriate sexual behaviour by male soldiers towards their female colleagues at Larkhill.
The report says: ‘It was commonplace among a significant minority of soldiers within Larkhill Garrison.’
One witness described routinely receiving comments from male soldiers that she described as ‘vile’ and ‘degrading’.
The report says measures to tackle this kind of behaviour were introduced as part of a new policy for the armed forces in November 2022.
Larkhill Barracks near Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire. A report into Gunner Beck’s death said that a ‘significant minority’ of male soldiers would engage in sexually inappropriate behaviour
An Army inquiry into her death heard evidence from witnesses about inappropriate sexual behaviour by male soldiers towards their female colleagues at Larkhill
The report into Gunner Beck’s death found she had no diagnosed mental-health conditions and had not sought welfare support from anyone in the Army
Ms Cready regrets her daughter’s career choice having approved her request to join the Army aged 16.
For years top brass have been desperate to clamp down on sexual abuse and sexual harassment in the ranks, seemingly with little success.
The report follows an inquest into the death of a woman officer cadet, Olivia Perks, 21, who killed herself at the prestigious Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.
A coroner heard how Ms Perks, 21, took her own life just days after a significantly older male instructor spent the night with her. He was subsequently dismissed from the Army.
It is rare for the Army to admit that sexual harassment was a significant factor in the death of a soldier. It follows a damning report into the day to day experiences of women in the military drawn up by MPs.
While last year the Mail revealed how female members of the RAF’s Red Arrows aerobatic display team were subjected to sexual abuse and harassment by male colleagues.
A female submariner also revealed her shocking ordeal aboard a Royal Navy vessel, which included male sailors listing which female crew members they would rape if oxygen levels aboard the submarine were running out.
The report into Gunner Beck’s death found she had no diagnosed mental-health conditions and had not sought welfare support from anyone in the Army.
An Army spokesman said: ‘Our thoughts and sympathies remain with Gunner Jaysley-Louise Beck’s family and friends at this difficult time,’ adding that it would be inappropriate to comment further until after the inquest.
Gunner Beck was found dead after a party ten days before Christmas.
Gunner Beck’s family said she was a ‘loving and caring person who would go above and beyond to help anyone in a less fortunate position than herself’
Gunner Beck with her family. Her mother said that the 19-year-old had a ‘really lovely aura about her’
Speaking on BBC Breakfast this morning, her family said that the soldier had been reluctant to report her boss’ behaviour, believing that her concerns would not be taken seriously.
Ms McCready said in a filmed BBC interview that her daughter was ‘the kind of person that would walk into a room and just bring light into the room, naturally’.
Looking to Gunner Beck’s cousin Lois, she added: ‘She just had this really lovely aura about her, didn’t she?’
And holding her daughter’s recruit uniform, she summed up: ‘I shouldn’t have just been left with these. I should have always had my daughter walking back through the door.’
Gunner Beck, from Oxen Park in Cumbria, joined the Army at 16 and had been proud to be a soldier – but her family say she withdrew into herself as the campaign of harassment at the hands of her direct line manager escalated.
The superior sent her more than 1,000 messages in October 2021, rising to more than 3,500 the following month, shortly before she died.
In a message reportedly seen by the inquiry, she had written: ‘The truth is, I’m struggling to deal with all this.’
Her family later paid tribute to her while raising money for charity in her memory, writing: ‘Jaysley is a loving and caring person who would go above and beyond to help anyone in a less fortunate position than herself.’
Aspects of the inquiry, as reported by the BBC, suggest that inappropriate sexual behaviour was ‘commonplace amongst a significant minority’ of male soldiers at Larkhill, where Gunner Beck was based.
In 2022, an Army instructor based at Larkhill was sacked after buying ‘impressionable young recruits’ bottles of vodka and whiskey liqueur and asking another to ‘get up and walk’ so he could ‘look at her a***’.
Britain’s armed forces are cracking down on sexual harassment after bringing in new ‘zero tolerance’ rules last year
It is understood that Gunner Beck’s case is now being investigated by both civilian and military police forces. The Centre for Military Justice, which is supporting the family, branded her story ‘appalling’ in a tweet yesterday.
Britain’s armed forces are cracking down on sexual harassment after bringing in new ‘zero tolerance’ rules last year.
MoD sources insist there is ‘no place’ for sexual harassment and assault in the military, and say efforts are being made to encourage victims to report it.
Soldiers will be punished if they engage in acts of harassment such as cat-calling, inappropriate touching, ‘lewd’ comments, winking and ‘leering’ at squadmates.
The rules will apply across the Army, Navy and the RAF, and come after a landmark defence committee report found that nearly 62 per cent of female service personnel experienced bullying, harassment and discrimination.
MPs also found that servicewomen were more than ten times as likely to experience sexual harassment as their male counterparts.
The report concluded: ‘Mental wellbeing warning signs were clearly present in the weeks before her death but these were missed.
‘Other parts of the military culture of the Armed Forces show it is still a man’s world.’
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