A senior Army officer has been cleared by a court martial of failing to deal properly with allegations made by a teenage soldier who took her own life five months later.
Colonel Samantha Shepherd was on trial at the Military Court Centre at Catterick Garrison, in North Yorkshire, alongside Major James Hook, with both officers accused of “conduct prejudicial to good order and service discipline”.
Prosecutors said on Tuesday that both senior officers “let down” Gunner Jaysley Beck when she told them about an incident which happened on a Royal Artillery adventure training exercise on Thorney Island, in Chichester Harbour, in July 2021.
The court martial board heard how Gunner Beck told both officers about behaviour towards her by Warrant Officer Michael Webber at a social event during the exercise.
Prosecutors said the young soldier “told each of them enough to understand that she may been sexually assaulted”.
The board of three senior military officers heard how Gunner Beck, 19, died in December 2021.
On Wednesday, Assistant Judge Advocate General Edward Legard told the board: “The Crown has concluded that there is insufficient evidence upon which you can safely convict Colonel Shepherd of the charge she faces.”
The board, which consists of an Air Commodore, a Royal Navy captain and an Army colonel, formally returned a not guilty verdict, on the directions of the judge, and Col Shepherd left the court.
The trial of Maj Hook continues.
The court martial heard how Gunner Beck told Colonel Shepherd what happened with Warrant Officer Webber and the senior officer then went to see Captain Mae King – an officer whose role it was to advise on disciplinary matters in the Royal Artillery.
The allegation against Colonel Shepherd was that she deliberately failed to mention to Captain King that the teenager had alleged the warrant officer had touched her, or tried to touch her.
Captain King, who is now a major, was asked questions about what Colonel Shepherd told her when she gave evidence at the court martial on Tuesday.
Prosecutor Commander Paul Patterson has told the board that the allegation against Maj Hook, who was a captain at the time and was running the exercise, did not treat the information he was given by Gunner Beck “in a manner consistent with its seriousness” and Shepherd “deliberately misreported what she had been told”.
In his opening statement, the prosecutor said that Warrant Officer Webber, Gunner Beck and Lance Corporal Drew Tudor were drinking together until the early hours of the morning of July 13.
The following morning Lance Corporal Tudor found Gunner Beck asleep in her car and she told him about what happened with Warrant Officer Webber.
Commander Patterson said the lance corporal fetched Maj Hook, who got in the car and Gunner Beck repeated what she had said.
The prosecutor said Maj Hook and Gunner Beck then went on a walk and the officer gave the teenager until noon to decide whether she wanted to make a complaint.
He said Maj Hook later phoned a more senior officer back at the barracks to say Warrant Office Webber had “made a pass” at Gunner Beck.
