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A former service sergeant has been ordered to serve half a year in custody for committing sexual assault against a young gunner who subsequently took her own life.

Warrant Officer the former sergeant, 43, pinned down service member the young woman and attempted to kiss her in July 2021. She was found dead half a year following in her military accommodation at Larkhill, Wiltshire.

Webber, who was given his punishment at the military court in Wiltshire earlier, will be placed in a correctional facility and registered as sexual offenders list for a seven-year period.

The family matriarch Leighann Mcready commented: "What he [Webber] did, and how the military failed to protect our young woman afterwards, resulted in her suicide."

Official Reaction

The armed forces acknowledged it failed to hear the servicewoman, who was originally from Cumbria's Oxen Park, when she filed the complaint and has apologised for its response to her complaint.

Following a formal inquiry regarding the tragic death, the defendant pleaded guilty to the offense of sexual assault in September.

The grieving parent commented her daughter should have been present with her family in legal proceedings now, "to observe the person she filed against facing consequences for the assault."

"Instead, we appear in her absence, enduring endless sorrow that no relatives should be forced to endure," she stated further.

"She complied with procedures, but the accountable parties failed in their duties. Those failures shattered our child totally."

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Court Proceedings

The judicial body was told that the violation occurred during an military training at the exercise site, near Emsworth in Hampshire, in mid-2021.

The accused, a ranking soldier at the moment, initiated inappropriate contact towards the servicewoman subsequent to an evening of drinking while on duty for a field training.

Gunner Beck claimed Webber remarked he had been "seeking a chance for them to be in private" before taking hold of her, pinning her down, and trying to kiss her.

She made official allegations against Webber subsequent to the incident, notwithstanding efforts by superiors to convince her against reporting.

A formal investigation into her suicide found the military's management of the allegations played "more than a minimal role in her suicide."

Mother's Testimony

In a testimony shared to the tribunal previously, the parent, said: "The young woman had only become 19 and will always be a young person full of energy and happiness."

"She trusted individuals to safeguard her and after what he did, the trust was lost. She was very upset and scared of the sergeant."

"I saw the transformation before my own eyes. She felt helpless and deceived. That violation shattered her faith in the system that was supposed to protect her."

Sentencing Remarks

While delivering judgment, Judge Advocate General the magistrate said: "We have to consider whether it can be addressed in another way. We do not consider it can."

"We conclude the gravity of the offence means it can only be resolved by prison time."

He addressed the convicted individual: "The victim had the bravery and wisdom to demand you halt and instructed you to go to bed, but you carried on to the extent she considered she wouldn't be safe from you even when she went back to her assigned barracks."

He added: "The next morning, she made the complaint to her family, her companions and her chain of command."

"Following the report, the unit decided to handle the situation with minor administrative action."

"You underwent questioning and you accepted your conduct had been unacceptable. You prepared a apology note."

"Your professional path continued completely unaffected and you were in due course elevated to senior position."

Background Information

At the inquest into the tragic passing, the official examiner said a commanding officer pressured her to cease proceedings, and merely disclosed it to a superior officers "after information had leaked."

At the period, the accused was given a "light disciplinary meeting" with no additional penalties.

The inquest was also told that mere weeks after the incident Gunner Beck had further been exposed to "continuous bullying" by another soldier.

Bombardier Ryan Mason, her line manager, directed toward her over four thousand six hundred digital communications expressing emotions for her, accompanied by a 15-page "love story" describing his "imagined scenarios."

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Official Statement

The armed forces said it offered its "sincerest condolences" to the soldier and her family.

"We continue to be profoundly sorry for the shortcomings that were noted at the formal investigation in winter."

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