Jaysley Beck found dead after being bombarded with 3600 texts from senior colleague Ryan Mason

A teenage soldier who died at her Army base was scared of her ‘psychotic and possessive’ senior colleague who bombarded her with thousands of texts, an inquest was told yesterday.

Gunner Jaysley Beck, 19, was found dead in December 2021 after ‘an intense period of unwelcome behaviour’.

At the inquest in Salisbury, her mother Leighann McCready said her daughter ‘did not feel safe’ with Bombardier Ryan Mason, described by Ms McCready as a ‘creep’ who ‘was freaking her [Gunner Beck] out’.

Gnr Beck feared Bombardier Mason had hacked her phone, as he appeared to be tracking her movements around Larkhill Camp in Wiltshire. He also repeatedly expressed his love for her in 3,600 texts sent in November 2021. They were both serving in the Royal Artillery.

But it was not just Bdr Mason’s behaviour that was disturbing the teenager. She had been assaulted by a soldier who put his hand ‘between her legs’ during an exercise at Thorney Island, Hampshire, in July of that year. The soldier, a much older sergeant, only received a minor sanction from officers for the assault on Gnr Beck. A letter of apology he was ordered to write ended with the suggestion that ‘his door was open’ should she wish to speak to him.

The case has highlighted concerns regarding the treatment of young, vulnerable women in the Army, as nothing was done to prevent Gnr Beck’s harassment.

The court was shown Whatsapp messages she sent pleading with him to back off. On November 25, she said: ‘This whole falling in love with me, it’s becoming a bit too much.

‘I have just come out of a relationship and I’m just not wanting to be involved in anything like this. It is weighing me down a little bit, I’ll be totally honest with you...I just don’t want to hear how you feel about me.’ Then on December 4, she pleaded: ‘It’s snapping me. I have replied to you and in the space of a couple of minutes, you sent three texts and tried to phone me. Can you understand why I think it is a bit too much?’

Ms McCready, of Oxen Park, Cumbria, told the inquest: ‘Ryan Mason was overstepping the mark of her friendliness and her nature. This was Jayse’s impression and she made us aware that he was becoming a creep. Ryan was freaking her out.

‘There was a time when she was on the phone and said to me “Mum, I think he’s hacked my phone because he knows exactly where I am standing”.’

Gnr Beck then called Ms McCready on December 7 from a hotel in Newbury, Berkshire, where she was staying on a work trip.

She said her daughter was crying and was ‘afraid something would happen’, adding that she thought Bdr Mason was ‘listening to her conversation’.

Gnr Beck also drafted a message to Bdr Mason admitting his behaviour was ‘taking a huge toll on [her] mental health’ and that she needed ‘time out’.

In court, her mother added her daughter had also been troubled by a relationship breakup and her uncle’s suicide the previous year.

She had joined the Army at age 16, attending the Army Foundation College at Harrogate before enlisting in the Royal Artillery.

In 2021, the Ministry of Defence reviewed its complaints handling amid claims of a ‘culture of institutional misogyny’ in which two-thirds of women in the armed forces had experienced bullying, sexual harassment or discrimination in their careers.

The hearing continues.