A 19-year-old soldier is believed to have taken her own life after being sexually harassed by a superior, according to the BBC citing a British military investigation.

His 19-year-old henchman Royal Artillery Jaysley Beck, was found dead at Larkhill Camp in Wiltshire in south-west England in December 2021. A service investigation report, reported by the BBC, describes “an intense period of unwanted behavior” before her death.

“It is almost certain that this was a causative factor in her death,” the report states.

The behavior by her superior continued over a period of two months before her death, the report says, and continues that the pushy behavior affected and had a significant impact on her mental health.

He sent her thousands of messages: “I can’t stand you being with someone else”

Speaking to the BBC, her mother said her daughter was not in a good mood after months of abuse. It is noted that an inquest date has not yet been set to officially determine how Gunner Beck died. Her superior stated that he wanted a relationship with her, however the girl already had a relationship and did not respond.

Her mother reported that in October 2021, the man sent her more than 1,000 WhatsApp messages and voicemails, and in November they increased to 3,500.

The messages included controlling her behavior. “She was constantly looking for reassurance that she was alone and made it clear that she couldn’t stand the thought of being with someone else.”

Jaysley Beck initially thought of him as a friend and tried to be condescending towards him, but a few weeks before her death she texted him saying she couldn’t take his behavior anymore.

Ms McCready says she had urged her daughter to report her superior’s behaviour, but was reluctant because of the way the army had dealt with her complaint of sexual assault by another a few months earlier. This happened late at night in a bar at an army training center. The report describes how Beck left the bar and hid in the restrooms.

Mrs McCready vividly remembers her daughter’s phone call the next morning, recounting what had happened: “He said he put his hands between her legs and tried to grab her by the throat and then she started screaming.”

“She slept in her car that night. She was afraid that if she had gone to sleep he would have come to her room. She called one of her friends who was on guard at night and told him to stay on the phone until she fell asleep.’

She did not report what had happened to her that night, but someone else did. The report states: “Management took the incident seriously, but evidence suggests that the correct reporting process was not followed. As a result, the disciplinary advice was based on a version of events from which certain key details appear to have been inadvertently omitted.’

The man involved received a minor penalty and sent a letter of apology to the 19-year-old.

The family’s lawyer, Emma Norton, from the Center for Military Justice, said: “It is very important that the military admits that the sexual harassment this young woman suffered in the months before she died was a causative factor in her death. I know of no other case where it has been accepted. This is obviously causing huge concern for the family.”

“All I have that comforts me are her clothes,” says her mother

Asked if she regrets her daughter’s career choice, her mother says yes without hesitation and blames military personnel for a lack of compassion when the family wanted to spend time in her room as they packed up their belongings. She says they also tried, unsuccessfully, to dictate how her funeral would be conducted.

Touching her daughter’s army hat and trousers, she tells the BBC: “These are what comfort me. I keep them because they are a memory”