‘We should have done more’ for female soldier, senior army officer tells inquest

A senior army officer has apologised for how a teenage soldier was treated, telling an inquest “we should have done more”.

Brigadier Melissa Emmett was speaking at the hearing into the death of Royal Artillery Gunner Jaysley Beck, 19, who was found dead at Larkhill Camp in Wiltshire on December 15 2021.

Brigadier Emmett, head of the army personnel services group, said the force formally accepts failures were made at Salisbury Coroner’s Court on Monday.

Salisbury Coroner’s Court heard how Gunner Beck had previously been sent thousands of messages from her supervisor and was allegedly pinned down by a senior soldier who tried to kiss her.

After the latter incident, Gunner Beck complained and the senior soldier was asked to write her an apology letter.

Five months later, Gunner Beck, who served with the Royal Artillery, was found hanged in her room at Larkhill Camp in Wiltshire.

Brigadier Emmett said: “We let her down in so many ways for which we have already apologised, and if I can apologise again, for what it’s worth, I would do.”

She added: “What is clear is that irrespective of the policies we had in place and the training, somehow people did not understand what was expected of them and didn’t have the confidence to act.

“We left Jaysley not aware of how she could raise her concerns and have the confidence to be listened to.

“On a personal level, listening to the doubt and the fear that she had, the good encouragement of her friends to report, but the lack of confidence that they had in reporting, and the well meaning but erroneous actions of the chain of command I have found personally very grieving.

“We could have, and we should have, done more.”

She told assistant coroner Nicholas Rheinberg that it was her “earnest wish” that reforms that have been made since Gunner Beck’s death mean “we can avoid these things happening again”.

Brigadier Emmett said changes made include removing the chain of command from the complaint system, the professionalisation of the system and the introduction of anonymous complaints hotlines.

She said the new policies: “Made it very clear that everyone was entitled to respect and dignity.

“What the zero-tolerance policies that were issued in 2022 do is make it absolutely unequivocal what is expected of everybody.”

The inquest also heard from Tamzin Hort, now 23, a former soldier and friend of Gunner Beck, who spoke of how women in the Army were subjected to “disgusting” comments from male colleagues.

Ms Hort, who has since left the Army, was asked about her experience of being female in the Army.

She said: “I was with my partner for three years but as the only girl in my battery I got a lot of unwanted attention from a lot of the lads, especially if they had had a drink.

“I couldn’t walk out of my block without getting nasty comments.

“That goes for the majority of females, not just in Larkhill.”

Ms Hort told the inquest how people would knock on her door and she first left it unlocked, but then began locking it due to concerns people would walk in when she was sleeping.

Mr Rheinberg asked: “Did Jaysley ever talk to you about these problems?

Ms Hort replied: “No. I know she would get a lot of comments. She was stunning. They would all make disgusting comments like ‘I would do this to her’.

“She was beautiful, she was going to get comments, but she shouldn’t have had to.

“You can’t react to it because it makes it worse and they would do it even more.”

Alison Gerry, representing Gunner Beck’s family, asked about evidence Ms Hort gave to the service inquiry into Gunner Beck’s death that women were called “lesbian” or “slag”, and subjected to “vicious gossip”.

Ms Hort replied: “You could be walking to the kitchen and they would be like ‘come to my room’, you would say ‘I don’t want to do that’ and they would say ‘you’re disgusting’.”

She added: “If you’re told enough times that you are a slag, that affects you. It makes you feel very low.

“I put on weight due to my relationship and things going wrong. I would go to work every morning and I would get called fat by my training instructor.

“He would say ‘look at you, you are fat, are you pregnant?’. You are just sat there humiliated.”

The former soldier described one incident in which she returned home from the pub and locked her room, later finding a sergeant outside with a condom.

“I was 17,” she said.

“You can imagine how scared I was. It happens to every female. It is not just in 47 Regiment.”

Ms Hort said she did not complain about the incident, adding that on an occasion when she received therapy through the Army welfare services, “somehow everyone knew about it”.

George Higgins, a former sergeant who has since left the Army, declined to answer when asked if he began a relationship with Gunner Beck when she was a recruit in Harrogate.

He confirmed they had been in a relationship when she joined 47th Regiment and described receiving phone calls from her in July 2021, when she was on an adventure course at Thorney Island, near Emsworth in Hampshire.

The inquest has heard how Battery Sergeant Major Michael Webber, now of Warrant Officer Class 1 rank, attempted to kiss Gunner Beck after a barbecue.

Mr Higgins said: “In the morning, she was found by a captain who basically told her she was lying about what happened.”

He also told the inquest how Gunner Beck was under pressure from her supervisor Ryan Mason, who was a bombardier, who caused “drama” when she was deployed with other soldiers.

The inquest heard Mr Mason told Gunner Beck about his mental health struggles, and was “overbearing”.

On one occasion, Gunner Beck went to an event with Mr Mason and a third soldier.

Mr Higgins said Gunner Beck was initially told there was no accommodation at the event on December 7 but then Mr Mason said they had hotel rooms.

He described how Gunner Beck began “questioning” the situation when her room was situated next to Mr Mason’s but the other soldier was not in the same area.

Mr Higgins said: “She thought it was bizarre. He was being really weird about it.

“She decided to go down and question reception on the booking.

“It turned out he had booked the rooms and paid for them himself.”

The inquest heard Gunner Beck rang her father and he stayed on the phone until a male colleague collected her.

Gunner Beck later sent a message to Mr Mason telling him she needed “time out” and his behaviour had taken a “huge toll” on her mental health.

Last week, Mr Mason told the inquest he went back to his family home in West Yorkshire on December 8 before handing in his notice to quit the Army.

Mr Higgins, who was eight years older than Gunner Beck, declined to answer questions about when their relationship began.

Mr Rheinberg had advised him that he did not have to answer questions if his answers were likely to incriminate him.

The inquest heard that it is an offence under the Sexual Offences Act for someone in a position of trust to have sexual activity with a person aged under 18.

Mr Higgins confirmed that he was aware of that law but had received “very little” training about it at the time.

He declined to answer whether he had been in relationships with other recruits, or whether he had trained Gunner Beck.

The hearing continues.