I am the sister of Jaysley Beck. Jaysley was a soldier in the British Army. She was just 19 years old when she died in December 2021 at Larkhill Camp.
An Army report last year found that she had suffered relentless sexual harassment from her male line manager and that she had reported an older senior officer for a serious incident just a few months before she died. It appears this was not referred to the police when it should have been.
Other females soldiers gave evidence to the internal inquiry describing that they had been subjected to ‘vile’ and ‘degrading’ comments by males at Larkhill Garrison.
These experiences are sadly not uncommon for women in the Army.
We know from survey after survey that women in the Army suffer disproportionate levels of sexual harassment and sexual assault, incidents that are often rather vaguely described as “particularly upsetting experiences“. What is also absolutely clear is that, when these things happen, overwhelmingly female service personnel, do not report them because they fear being labelled a troublemaker and they fear the impact on their careers. Our friends at Centre for Military Justice and Salute Her would say they have good reason to fear those repercussions.
On International Women’s Day, I would like to mark the start of my family’s inquest journey. I hope that the Army will approach the inquiry with honesty, openness and commitment, not defensively and with a closed mindset.
My family has been devastated by the loss of Jaysley. I have lost a beloved sister. All we are left with now is the hope that her loss may lead to some real and lasting change in the Army. International Women’s Day seems as good a time as any to express that hope.
Emilli Beck