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An ex- service sergeant has been given 180 days in custody for sexually assaulting a teenage servicewoman who later ended her life.

Warrant Officer the former sergeant, 43, pinned down service member Jaysley Beck and tried to make physical contact in mid-2021. She was found dead several months after in her military accommodation at Larkhill, Wiltshire.

The defendant, who was judged at the military court in Wiltshire recently, will be placed in a public jail and on the sex offenders register for a seven-year period.

Gunner Beck's mother Leighann Mcready commented: "What he [Webber] did, and how the armed forces neglected to defend our child subsequently, resulted in her suicide."

Military Response

The Army acknowledged it ignored the servicewoman, who was a native of Cumbria's Oxen Park, when she disclosed the incident and has said sorry for its handling of her complaint.

Following an inquest into the soldier's suicide, the defendant confessed to a single charge of physical violation in the autumn.

Ms McCready said her young woman should have been present with her relatives in court today, "to see the individual she filed against brought to justice for the assault."

"Rather, we stand here without her, enduring endless sorrow that no loved ones should be forced to endure," she continued.

"She followed the rules, but the individuals in charge failed in their duties. Those failures shattered our child totally."

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Court Proceedings

The legal tribunal was told that the assault occurred during an military training at the training location, near Emsworth in Hampshire, in July 2021.

The accused, a ranking soldier at the period, made a sexual advance towards the servicewoman after an social gathering while on assignment for a field training.

The servicewoman stated Webber remarked he had been "seeking a chance for them to be in private" before taking hold of her, holding her against her will, and trying to kiss her.

She reported the incident against the sergeant following the assault, despite attempts by commanding officers to persuade her not to.

An inquest into her suicide found the armed forces' response of the allegations played "a significant contributory part in her demise."

Mother's Testimony

In a testimony read out to the tribunal previously, the parent, expressed: "She had just turned nineteen and will always be a teenager full of vitality and joy."

"She trusted individuals to defend her and following the assault, the faith was gone. She was deeply distressed and terrified of the sergeant."

"I saw the change firsthand. She felt vulnerable and abandoned. That violation shattered her faith in the structure that was intended to protect her."

Court Ruling

During sentencing, The presiding judge Alan Large remarked: "We must evaluate whether it can be addressed in a different manner. We do not consider it can."

"We conclude the seriousness of the violation means it can only be addressed by prison time."

He told the defendant: "The servicewoman had the courage and good sense to tell you to stop and instructed you to go to bed, but you carried on to the extent she felt she would remain in danger from you despite the fact she returned to her own accommodation."

He continued: "The next morning, she reported the incident to her family, her companions and her chain of command."

"After the complaint, the unit decided to handle the situation with minimal consequences."

"You were subject to inquiry and you accepted your behavior had been inappropriate. You wrote a letter of apology."

"Your military service continued completely unaffected and you were eventually elevated to Warrant Officer 1."

Further Details

At the formal inquiry into the tragic passing, the coroner said military leadership pressured her to cease proceedings, and just informed it to a superior officers "once details became known."

At the period, the accused was given a "minimal consequence discussion" with no further consequences.

The inquest was additionally informed that mere weeks after the violation Gunner Beck had also been subjected to "relentless harassment" by another soldier.

Bombardier Ryan Mason, her line manager, sent her over four thousand six hundred SMS communications expressing emotions for her, along with a fifteen-page "love story" describing his "imagined scenarios."

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Institutional Response

The armed forces stated it offered its "heartfelt apologies" to the soldier and her family.

"We will always be deeply apologetic for the shortcomings that were discovered at Jaysley's inquest in early this year."

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