Two serving British army officers have been charged with criminal offences over their handling of the sexual assault case of teenage soldier Jaysley Beck, who later died by suicide. Major James Hook and Colonel Samantha Shepherd are accused of conduct prejudicial to good order and service discipline under the Armed Forces Act.
Beck, a 19-year-old Royal Artillery gunner, was assaulted during a training exercise in Hampshire in July 2021. Former sergeant major Michael Webber, who has since left the army, was sentenced to six months in prison in October for sexually assaulting her. Beck died by suicide five months after the incident.
The Ministry of Defence confirmed on Friday that the Service Prosecuting Authority had charged the two officers, both of whom gave evidence at the inquest into Beck’s death. The MoD said: “Following an investigation by the Defence Serious Crime Command, we can confirm two individuals have been charged… It would be inappropriate to comment further as legal proceedings are ongoing.”
Beck’s mother, Leighann McCready, expressed relief at the charges but said the family remains “very unhappy” with other aspects of the army’s response. She noted that a promised independent complaints process for service personnel, particularly young women, has not materialised, stating: “We feel constantly as though we have to push the army to change and it is completely exhausting.”
Since Beck’s death, the MoD has established a serious crime command and a violence against women and girls taskforce, and has agreed in principle to remove serious complaints from individual service handling. Webber had engaged Beck in a drinking game before assaulting her; his actions were not initially reported to police, and he was later promoted.
