Jaysley Beck felt manipulated by ‘suicidal threats’, inquest told

A female soldier who complained of being harassed by a senior colleague did not report him due to “manipulation tactics” and threats of suicide, an inquest into her death has been told.

Royal Artillery Gunner Jaysley Beck, 19, was found dead in her barracks at Larkhill Camp, Wiltshire, on 15 December 2021.

She had been subjected to an “intense period of unwelcome behaviour” from Bombardier Ryan Mason, who was experiencing mental health issues at the time.

Bombardier George Young told the inquest Gunner Beck felt pressure to be Mr Mason’s emotional support, and worried what would happen to him if she complained.

The nine-day hearing, which began at Salisbury Coroner’s Court on Monday, was shown a series of messages between Gunner Beck and Mr Mason.

Between October and December 2021, Mr Mason sent Gunner Beck more than 4,600 messages confessing his feelings for her.

“It was stressful [for her], you could tell,” Bomardier Young said.

“I don’t think it made her feel particularly comfortable going to work, she would actually dread it.”

Bombardier Young said Gunner Beck told him Mr Mason would use “manipulation tactics” and make “threats to do something to himself” to gain her attention.

He also expressed jealousy over her friendships with other male colleagues.

In one message, Gunner Beck told him: “I feel like I can’t do certain things because it hurts you. I’m sorry but I don’t need this.

“I want to live my life and if that’s being friends with George, which is all it is, then nobody should have to question that.

“I’m not gonna lie, this has to stop now because it’s becoming hard for me also.”

Another text from Mr Mason said Gunner Beck “had literally saved [his] life”.

Bombardier Young said he urged Gunner Beck to report the behaviour, but she worried it would “add to the list of his [Mr Mason’s] problems”.

“She just cared about people a lot, and she put their wellbeing above her own,” he said.

“She’d say ‘I don’t want to get him in trouble’, despite it not being right. The situation was clearly not normal.”

He added Gunner Beck, who was originally from Cumbria, was also worried making a complaint would affect her position on the team, because low-rank Gunners “are easily replaceable” when compared to experienced officers.

“She loved the job so her biggest fear was being sent back to the unit and losing her posting,” he explained, saying Gunner Beck was worried she would be removed rather than senior officers dealing with the issue.

“From what she was telling me she didn’t want to seem like that girl that was constantly putting in complaints. She was worried she would be seen as causing drama.”

Gunner Beck had filed a previous complaint against Battery Sergeant Major Michael Webber following a seperate incident at a work social.

While deployed to an adventure training exercise at Thorney Island, near Emsworth in Hampshire, in July 2021, she said Mr Webber “pinned her down and tried to kiss her” after an evening of drinking.

Mr Webber subsequently received a minor sanction on his record and was made to write an apology letter to Gunner Beck.

Giving evidence at the inquest, Lance Bombardier Braddon Haigh said she was disappointed with this conclusion.

“I remember her saying it was pathetic, ‘it’s easy for him to just write a letter’,” he recalled.

“She was obviously not happy with it, but she’d done what she was told to do by escalating it, and that was the outcome.”

Bombardier Haigh said once people became aware of Mr Mason’s “obsession” with Gunner Beck they advised her to report it, but she responded: “Oh I’ll just get another letter again”.

The court heard how Mr Mason’s behaviour intensified during the final weeks of Gunner Beck’s life, and reached a climax point while on a training exercise in Newbury on 7 December.

Bombardier Young told the hearing he received a phone call from Gunner Beck, who was “trembling, crying and in shock”.

“She said that it had gone too far, that she could no longer deal with being around Ryan,” he said.

“The intensity of the behaviour had really ramped up in terms of what was being said. I think he’d tried knocking on her hotel room door as well.”

Bombardier Young picked her up from the hotel where she was staying and drove her back to Larkhill Camp.

Later that week, Mr Mason texted Gunner Beck to inform her he was removing himself from his post.

He wrote: “After what you said, I’m only doing this to make sure you can continue as normal and keep on the upwards path you’re on.

“Hopefully you can still talk because I’d hate to think that this is it. Again I’m sorry you feel like this, as you know, this is nothing I ever intended or thought would happen. Speak soon, maybe.”

A few days later, Gunner Beck was found dead in her room.

An Army service inquiry report published in October 2023 detailed three additional “contributory factors” to her death:

• The “significant strain” of a sexual relationship with a married colleague in the last few weeks of her life.
• A relationship that ended in November 2021 which involved “repeated allegations of unfaithfulness on the part of the boyfriend”.
• An “unhealthy approach to alcohol, with episodes of binge-drinking”.

The hearing continues.