Leighann McCready says promised changes to help victims of sexual assault have not happened quickly enough and the family had to push for progress at every stage of inquest
At the end of Gunner Jaysley Beck’s inquest, the British army promised that the teenager’s suicide after a sexual assault by a senior colleague would lead to lasting and effective change.
Eight months on, as her abuser was finally sentenced for the attack, Beck’s mother, Leighann McCready, accused the army of making “empty promises” and said change to the way victims were treated was not taking place quickly enough.
She said her 19-year-old daughter’s death had “destroyed” her and the conviction of the man who attacked her, the former army warrant officer Michael Webber, did not feel like justice.
McCready said: “As her mother, knowing what happened to her has destroyed me. Since the day I lost her, my life has been turned completely upside down. There is no peace, no normal any more. I feel numb and empty, like I’m existing rather than living.”
