Former senior non-commissioned officer Michael Webber, 43, was jailed for six months by a military court last year after pleading guilty to sexually assaulting Gunner Beck five months before her death
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Two senior Army officers have denied charges brought following the death of teenage soldier Jaysley Beck who took her own life after she was sexually assaulted by a superior.
Colonel Samantha Shepherd and Major James Hook appeared at the Military Court Centre at Catterick Garrison, in North Yorkshire, by video-link on Wednesday, where they both denied “conduct prejudicial to good order and service discipline”.
The allegations they face relate to how they handled information before Gunner Beck was found hanged in her barracks in Larkhill Camp, Wiltshire, in 2021.
Former senior non-commissioned officer Michael Webber, 43, was jailed for six months by a military court last year after pleading guilty to sexually assaulting Gunner Beck five months before her death.
An inquest into the 19-year-old’s death found the incident and the Army’s failure to take appropriate action “more than minimally” contributed to her death.
On Wednesday, Shepherd pleaded not guilty to two charges of conduct prejudicial to good order and service discipline.
The first alleges that “on July 13, 2021, and thereafter, you did not report the commission of an alleged sexual assault to the service police in respect of a suspect within the regiment of which you were regimental colonel”.
The second alleges that “on a date in July 2021, you misreported what you had been told by Jaysley Beck” to another person.
Hook pleaded not guilty to one charge of the same offence.
This alleges that “on July 13, 2021 you did not treat information passed to yourself by Jaysley Beck in a manner consistent with its seriousness”.
Judge Adjutant General Alan Large told the defendants they will go on trial on September 14, but it has not yet been decided whether the five-day hearing will be at Catterick or at Bulford Camp in Wiltshire.
A further case management hearing will be held on June 23.
A number of Gunner Beck’s family were on the link listening to the 20-minute hearing.
The judge was told Hook is serving with 29 Commando Regiment Royal Artillery and Shepherd, who appeared from the United States, is serving with the British Defence Staff in the country.
Gunner Beck’s mother, Leighann McCready, from Cumbria, said in January that the family had written to the Chief of the General Staff, General Sir Roly Walker, after the inquest with their concerns about “multiple Army failings in the chain of command” that led to her death.
She said it was not appropriate to comment further on the charges faced by the two officers but she added that “we remain very unhappy with other parts of the Army’s response”, especially about a promised new, independent complaints process for service people.
Both an inquest into Gunner Beck’s death, and the court martial of Webber, heard he had engaged the young recruit in a drinking game before touching her thigh and trying to kiss her.
Gunner Beck pushed Webber – then a battery sergeant major in the Royal Artillery – away and spent the night locked in her car before making a complaint to her superiors in the morning.
But the incident was not reported to police and Webber wrote a letter of apology to Gunner Beck.
He was later promoted.