British Army finds teenager female soldier took her life after sexual harassment by boss

A British Army investigation has found that a teenager female soldier may have committed suicide due to months of sexual harassment by one of her bosses. Jaysley Beck, 19, who was a Royal Artillery gunner, was found dead at Larkhill camp in England in December 2021. An inquest into the exact cause of her death is pending.

But the BBC said a service report had mentioned "an intense period of unwelcome behaviour".

"It is almost certain this was a causal factor in her death," said the report as quoted by BBC. The report will be published on Wednesday (Oct 4).

The sexual harassment from her boss went on for two months before her death, according to the enquiry.

"Whilst this behaviour ended the week before her death, it appears that it continued to affect her and had taken a significant toll on her mental resilience and well-being," the report says.

The investigation by the army has reportedly found that Jaysley's boss wanted a relationship with her, but the feeling was not mutual.

She tried to be supportive and understanding of her boss' feelings initially.

But she sent him a message that said "I can't handle it any more. It's weighing me down," just weeks before her death

The army investigation report describes that in October 2021, Jaysley's boss sent her 1,000 WhatsApp messages and even voicemails.

The number of messages increased to 3,500 just next month.

That was not all, her boss would arrange tasks in such a way that both of them would end up working together.

Jaysley even suspected that he tracked her movements.

The name of her line manager has not been mentioned in the report, BBC said.

Jaysley was enthusiastic about her career in the British Army and joined when she was just 16-years-old.

When her parents suggested her to report her boss' behaviour, she said she was reluctant to do so because of the way Army treated her previous complaint of sexual harassment at the hands of another of her seniors.

This male soldier tried to grope her between her legs and tried to grab her around the neck.

The male soldier was given a minor punishment and was told to write her an apology letter.

"She was saying you don't get listened to, so what's the point? She thought she would be seen as a female troublemaker," said Leighann McCready, Jaysley's mother as quoted by BBC.

The British Army, although having offered "thoughts and sympathies", has said that it would not be right to comment further since inquest into Jaysley's death was pending.

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