Featured Image Credit: Family Handout
Topics: Military, Mental Health, Crime, UK News
Niamh Shackleton
Topics: Military, Mental Health, Crime, UK News
Jaysley Beck's mom has spoken out after a former Army officer admitted to sexually assaulting her.
In December 2021, Beck was found dead at Larkhill Camp in Wiltshire, UK, having took her own life.
Before her suicide, Gunner Beck had filed a complaint against Battery Sergeant Major Michael Webber alleging that he'd pinned her down and tried to kiss her at a work social event.
Webber has since left the army and on Friday (September 5) pleaded guilty to one count of sexual harassment at a pre-trail hearing, BBC News reports. He will be sentenced next month.
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Confirming this, a Ministry of Defence spokesman said in a statement via PA: "Following an investigation by the Defence Serious Crime Command, we can confirm that former WO1 Michael Webber pleaded guilty to a single charge of sexual assault and will be sentenced on October 31 2025 at Bulford Military Court Centre."
In the wake of Webber's guilty plea, Leighann McCready, Beck’s mother, spoke of the 'devasting loss' the family have endured following the young soldier's death.
"We are relieved that Michael Webber has admitted his guilt and not put us through the trauma of yet more legal proceedings, but nothing can undo the devastating loss of our beautiful daughter Jaysley," she said.
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"It’s hard to believe it has taken so long for there to be any accountability for this crime. Jaysley did everything right.
"She reported the assault immediately, not once but twice. First to her captain who dismissed and dissuaded her from going further. And even then, she went over his head and reported it up the chain. But her chain of command still failed her."
Beck's mother's statement continued: "They did not do what the rules at the time required them to do – which was to report it to the police.
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"If they had done that one simple thing, we believe with all our hearts she would still be with us today. But because they didn’t, she lost faith that she would be believed or supported the next time she needed help – which was just a few weeks later when another senior male started harassing her too. By this point she felt she had nowhere to turn.
"After Jaysley’s death, we’ve tried hard to get to the bottom of what happened. No-one was listening.
"Thankfully, the coroner listened to us and held a thorough and full inquiry, concluding, among other things, that Jaysley had been sexually assaulted after all, something we never doubted.
"Even after that, we had to formally request that the matter should be treated as a crime. If we hadn’t done that, we wouldn’t be here today."
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If you've been affected by any of the issues in this article, you can contact The National Sexual Assault Hotline on 800.656.HOPE (4673), available 24/7. Or you can chat online via online.rainn.org.