Heartbroken mother of teenage soldier reveals letter of apology that exposed …

The heartbroken mother of a teenage soldier who was the victim of harassment and an alleged sexual assault has revealed how a letter of apology helped expose the circumstances surrounding her death.

A military probe found the pursuit of 19-year-old Gunner Jaysley Beck was “almost certain” to have been a factor in her taking her own life.

Leighann McCready asked the army to enter her daughter’s room, which was decorated with family pictures, but at first was refused because of “policies and procedures”.

After they caved in, Ms McCready opened her bedside drawer and found the item she believes helped secure justice for her daughter.

She discovered a letter of apology from Battery Sergeant Major Michael Webber, then 39, who was married and five ranks above Gunner Beck when he allegedly pinned her down, tried to kiss her and put his hand between her legs. He admitted there had been an “incident that took place” where his “behaviour was absolutely unacceptable”.

An investigation heard the behaviour towards the 19-year-old Royal Artillery soldier continued for two months and ended a week before her death after a work party at Larkhill Garrison in Wiltshire on December 15, 2021.

Gunner Beck was found hanged after a campaign of sexual harassment by her line manager Bombardier Ryan Mason, who b ombarded her with thousands of messages confessing his feelings for her, and an alleged sexual assault by Webber.

The investigation, known as a service inquiry, concluded that Mason’s actions “left her in a very fragile state from which she appears not to have recovered”. 

Gunner Beck was afraid of reporting the behaviour “as she feared she would be seen as a serial troublemaker, having previously reported an incident of unwarranted sexual behaviour” by a senior officer.

Ms McCready spent three years fighting to expose a “cover-up” of the alleged sexual assault on her daughter. The letter was read out at her inquest.

Earlier this month an inquest heard Gunner Beck had filed a complaint against Mr Webber after the alleged incident.

He received a minor sanction on his record, but details of the offence were omitted and a “miscommunication” meant improper legal advice was given.

At the hearing and before beginning his evidence he was warned by assistant coroner Nicholas Rheinberg he did not have to answer questions that could incriminate himself.

Mr Webber confirmed he intended to leave the Army in April and then declined to answer further questions surrounding the incident.

But he did tell the hearing he had written a letter of apology to Gunner Beck and that the letter’s content was true.

The coroner asked: “You will see in the letter you describe your behaviour as ‘absolutely unacceptable’ – what was your behaviour?”

He then refused to answer the question.

The alleged incident between Webber and Gunner Beck happened at an adventure training exercise on Thorney Island, Hampshire, in July 2021.

Webber was promoted to Warrant Officer 1 rank in May 2022 – despite a minor sanction record which cites “inappropriate behaviour unbecoming of a warrant officer”.

Ms McCready told the Sunday Times: “In all honesty, I think if it wasn’t for the fact that I took the letter out of my daughter’s drawer and put it in my handbag, there would have been no other evidence that it existed. They never had it on file. They never documented it.”

Mr Rheinberg found that the disciplinary action the army took against Webber, giving him a minor sanction and failing to report the incident to the police, was a contributory factor in her death. He determined other factors, including the harassment by Mason, who sent her 3,600 texts in the month before she died, the army’s failure to have a robust system for complaints, and the alcohol in her system also played their part.

Brigadier Melissa Emmett, head of the Army personnel services group, formally apologised to Gunner Beck and her family saying the Army “should have done so much more to support and protect her”.