'ARMY IS NOT SAFE FOR YOUNG WOMEN'

As ex-warrant officer is jailed for just 12 weeks over sexual assault on teen soldier, who then took own life, her heartbroken mother gives damning verdict

- Paul Jeeves

THE devastated mother of tragic Gunner Jaysley Beck claims the Army is "not safe for young women" after the soldier who sexually assaulted her daughter was jailed for just 12 weeks.

Warrant Officer Michael Webber will serve only half a six-month term behind bars.

Complaint

Webber, then a 39-year-old sergeant major, had attacked Jaysley, 19, during a training expedition in July 2021. She went on to take her own life.

Leighann McCready, the mum of Jaysley, pictured, said yesterday: "The Army is clearly not a safe space for young women." She blasted how top brass handled her daughter's complaint, saying: "Jaysley was disbelieved...there have been a lot of empty promises." The grieving mum added: “I told the Army about her sexual assault allegation very shortly after she died, at a meeting, but nothing happened.

“Even after the Army’s own internal inquiry established that something bad had happened at the hands of Michael Webber, nothing happened.”

Webber, a divorced father of one, admitted the assault, which occurred after he engaged Gunner Beck in a drinking game before touching her thigh and trying to kiss her.

She pushed Webber 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, from Cumbria, before being promoted.