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An ex- military sergeant has been ordered to serve 180 days in jail for sexually assaulting a teenage servicewoman who later died by suicide.

Sergeant Major the former sergeant, in his forties, restrained Royal Artillery Gunner the victim and tried to kiss her in July 2021. She was discovered deceased half a year following in her military accommodation at Larkhill military installation.

The convicted individual, who was judged at the legal proceedings in Wiltshire previously, will be transferred to a civilian prison and listed on offender database for seven years.

Gunner Beck's mother Leighann Mcready remarked: "His actions, and how the armed forces failed to protect our daughter following the incident, cost Jaysley her life."

Military Response

The military leadership said it ignored Gunner Beck, who was originally from Cumbria's Oxen Park, when she filed the complaint and has apologised for its response to her complaint.

Following an inquest into the tragic death, the accused admitted to one count of physical violation in the autumn.

Ms McCready commented her daughter could have been present with her relatives in the courtroom this day, "to witness the individual she reported brought to justice for the assault."

"Rather, we appear in her absence, facing perpetual grief that no family should ever have to face," she stated further.

"She complied with procedures, but the individuals in charge failed in their duties. Such negligence broke our young woman completely."

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Court Proceedings

The legal tribunal was informed that the incident took place during an adventure training exercise at Thorney Island, near Emsworth in Hampshire, in July 2021.

The accused, a ranking soldier at the moment, attempted physical intimacy towards the soldier subsequent to an social gathering while on assignment for a field training.

The victim stated Webber remarked he had been "anticipating an opportunity for them to be in private" before grabbing her leg, restraining her, and attempting to force intimacy.

She filed a complaint against the sergeant subsequent to the assault, regardless of pressure by military leadership to discourage her.

An inquest into her suicide found the Army's handling of the report played "a significant contributing factor in her suicide."

Mother's Testimony

In a statement presented to the court during proceedings, the mother, expressed: "She had recently celebrated a teenager and will always be a youth full of vitality and joy."

"She trusted authorities to safeguard her and post-incident, the faith was gone. She was extremely troubled and terrified of the sergeant."

"I observed the change firsthand. She felt vulnerable and abandoned. That violation broke her trust in the structure that was supposed to safeguard her."

Sentencing Remarks

While delivering judgment, Judge Advocate General Alan Large stated: "We have to consider whether it can be dealt with in a different manner. We do not believe it can."

"We have determined the severity of the crime means it can only be dealt with by incarceration."

He addressed the convicted individual: "The victim had the strength and intelligence to instruct you to cease and directed you to retire for the night, but you continued to the degree she considered she could not feel secure from you despite the fact she went back to her personal quarters."

He continued: "The subsequent morning, she made the complaint to her family, her friends and her military superiors."

"Following the report, the command chose to address your behavior with minimal consequences."

"You were interviewed and you accepted your conduct had been improper. You wrote a apology note."

"Your career continued without interruption and you were eventually advanced to higher rank."

Background Information

At the formal inquiry into the soldier's suicide, the official examiner said a commanding officer influenced her to withdraw the complaint, and just informed it to a military leadership "once details became known."

At the period, Webber was given a "minor administrative action interview" with no further consequences.

The inquiry was also told that just weeks after the incident Gunner Beck had additionally been subjected to "continuous bullying" by another soldier.

Another soldier, her superior officer, sent her over four thousand six hundred SMS communications confessing his feelings for her, along with a fifteen-page "personal account" outlining his "personal thoughts."

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Institutional Response

The Army expressed it extended its "sincerest condolences" to the servicewoman and her family.

"We will always be deeply apologetic for the deficiencies that were discovered at the formal investigation in early this year."

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