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An ex- Army sergeant major has been given 180 days in prison for sexually assaulting a teenage servicewoman who afterwards took her own life.

Warrant Officer the former sergeant, in his forties, restrained service member the young woman and sought to kiss her in July 2021. She was found dead half a year following in her barracks at Larkhill military installation.

The convicted individual, who was sentenced at the legal proceedings in Wiltshire earlier, will be placed in a public jail and listed on sexual offenders list for seven years.

The family matriarch Leighann Mcready stated: "What he [Webber] did, and how the Army failed to protect our young woman afterwards, led to her death."

Army Statement

The military leadership said it ignored the soldier, who was hailing from Oxen Park in Cumbria, when she filed the complaint and has apologised for its management of her allegations.

Subsequent to an investigation of the tragic death, Webber admitted to the offense of physical violation in last fall.

The grieving parent commented her child ought to have been present with her loved ones in legal proceedings now, "to witness the person she reported facing consequences for the assault."

"Instead, we stand here missing her, enduring endless sorrow that no relatives should be forced to endure," she added.

"She complied with procedures, but the accountable parties neglected their responsibilities. Those failures broke our young woman totally."

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Judicial Process

The court was advised that the incident happened during an military training at the exercise site, near Hampshire's Emsworth, in July 2021.

The accused, a senior officer at the period, made a sexual advance towards the servicewoman after an evening of drinking while on duty for a field training.

The victim stated the accused remarked he had been "waiting for a moment for them to be by themselves" before taking hold of her, restraining her, and trying to kiss her.

She reported the incident against Webber subsequent to the assault, regardless of pressure by superiors to convince her against reporting.

An official inquiry into her death found the armed forces' response of the allegations played "a significant role in her demise."

Mother's Testimony

In a account read out to the court during proceedings, the parent, expressed: "Our daughter had just turned nineteen and will eternally stay a youth full of vitality and joy."

"She believed people to protect her and after what he did, the confidence was shattered. She was deeply distressed and terrified of the accused."

"I observed the change personally. She felt vulnerable and abandoned. That incident shattered her trust in the set-up that was meant to protect her."

Sentencing Remarks

During sentencing, The presiding judge Alan Large remarked: "We must evaluate whether it can be handled in a different manner. We are not convinced it can."

"We have determined the seriousness of the violation means it can only be resolved by immediate custody."

He spoke to Webber: "She had the strength and intelligence to demand you halt and instructed you to retire for the night, but you carried on to the point she considered she would remain in danger from you despite the fact she went back to her own accommodation."

He stated further: "The next morning, she reported the incident to her relatives, her companions and her commanding officers."

"Following the report, the unit chose to handle the situation with light disciplinary measures."

"You were subject to inquiry and you acknowledged your behavior had been unacceptable. You wrote a letter of apology."

"Your career advanced unimpeded and you were in due course promoted to Warrant Officer 1."

Background Information

At the formal inquiry into the soldier's suicide, the official examiner said military leadership put pressure on her to withdraw the complaint, and only reported it to a military leadership "after information had leaked."

At the time, the accused was given a "minimal consequence discussion" with no further consequences.

The investigation was also told that only a short time after the violation Gunner Beck had further been subjected to "relentless harassment" by a separate individual.

A separate service member, her commanding individual, transmitted to her more than 4,600 digital communications confessing his feelings for her, along with a 15-page "personal account" describing his "imagined scenarios."

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Institutional Response

The Army stated it offered its "deepest sympathies" to the servicewoman and her relatives.

"We will always be sincerely regretful for the failings that were noted at Jaysley's inquest in February."

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