Soldier's notebook disappears after death, inquest told

The family of a teenage soldier found hanged in her barracks say they never received a notebook seen in her room on police officers' body-worn footage, an inquest has been told.

Royal Artillery Gunner Jaysley Beck, 19, was found dead in her locked room at Larkhill Camp, Wiltshire, on 15 December 2021 following a block party.

Police said no suicide note was ever found, but responding officers at the scene can be seen flicking through a soft covered notebook in her room.

However, it was never seized as evidence and has since been lost. The Army boxed up her remaining belongings and sent them back to her family - but the notepad was not among them.

Alison Gerry, representing Gunner Beck's family, said as a result they have been "left without any knowledge of what it is and what happened to it".

The nine-day hearing, which began at Salisbury Coroner's Court on Monday, heard from Det Insp Eirin Martin, the senior investigating officer in Gunner Beck's death.

She took over the case in January 2024 to assess whether a criminal investigation was necessary.

The court heard how upon arrival, the scene had been preserved by the Army and appeared "largely untouched", other than some slight disturbance from paramedics' efforts.

"The room was secured when colleagues came," she said.

"We established the door itself was lockable, it did not lock upon closing. You had to physically lock the door from the inside, and the key found was inside the room."

The window was also locked and the only other way to access the room was a master key, which was guarded by senior Army personnel, she added.

The court also heard how a fire escape in the corridor was always kept ajar, to allow for "informal" comings and goings into the accommodation block.

Det Insp Martin said this had never been investigated as a possible lead.

Ms Martin said a post-mortem examination was conducted which determined "there was no third party involvement in Jaysley's death".

"There was no struggle, no forced entry into her room, no signs of any disturbance to her body or on her person, which we would expect to see if someone else had been involved," she said.

The inquest aims to establish Gunner Beck's cause of death and the circumstances surrounding it, but with no note left behind, her family have been left in the dark.

The court previously heard the 19-year-old, who was originally from Cumbria, had been subjected to an "intense period of unwelcome behaviour" from Bombardier Ryan Mason, who was her line manager at the time.

Gunner Beck tried to support him through his mental health issues, but he grew "possessive and jealous", manipulating her into staying close with threats of suicide.

However, Ms Martin told the inquest his conduct "didn't amount to enough" for a prosecution.

"We conducted an investigation looking at harassment over that period of time and the conclusion was the evidence didn't support a criminal harassment case," she said.

Ms Martin added that prosecutions under Section 2 of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 must take place within six months of the offence.

"We were very far outside that statutory charging limit," she explained.

In addition, Gunner Beck had filed a complaint against Battery Sergeant Major Michael Webber after he "pinned her down" and tried to kiss her at a work social.

She was left so frightened that she hid in a toilet cubicle with her feet up, before spending the night in her car on the phone to a friend out of fear he would come to find her.

An Army service inquiry report published in October 2023 detailed three additional "contributory factors" to her death:

• The "significant strain" of a sexual relationship with a married colleague in the last few weeks of her life
• A relationship that ended in November 2021 which involved "repeated allegations of unfaithfulness on the part of the boyfriend"
• An "unhealthy approach to alcohol, with episodes of binge-drinking"

Giving evidence at the inquest, Det Con Byers said the notebook had not been collected by responding officers at the scene because they "didn't feel it was anything that was relevant".

"I don't know if it belonged to anyone who had been there the previous evening, or belonged to paramedics, or officers," she said.

The body worn footage shows police approaching the TV stand, where it lay on top of a pile of Gunner Beck's documents, and flicking through the pages "inquisitively".

"Without making a record of what was in the room and the decisions that were made as to what to seize, we're now left without any knowledge of what it is and what happened to it," Ms Gerry said.

The Army boxed up anything that police did not want and said it was sent to the family, who insisted they never received it.

The whereabouts of the notebook or its contents has never been recovered.

All evidence has now been heard and the coroner is expected to make a conclusion on Thursday.

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