British soldier took her own life after sexual harassment from boss

Jaysley Beck was 16 years old when she joined the British Army. She was found dead at Larkhill Camp in Wiltshire in December 2021, aged 19, and is believed to have taken her own life after an “intense period” of sexual harassment from her boss. An army investigation released on Wednesday found that Beck received more than 1,000 messages and voicemails from her army superior in October 2021, rising to more than 3,500 in November. The 57-page report makes grim reading. Beck had previously suffered a sexual assault in the army and her negative experience of how it was handled may have stopped her from reporting her boss, the inquiry found. Other women at Larkhill described receiving “vile” and “degrading” comments from soldiers. A 2021 report by MPs found that women serving in the army faced a “woefully inadequate” military complaints system. The Ministry of Defence has since introduced measures to tackle sexual assault across the armed forces, although earlier this year Conservative MP Sarah Atherton, who chairs a defence select committee, said the armed forces continued to exhibit a “culture of institutional misogyny”.