“In lots of ways this really doesn’t feel like justice,” McCready told the Guardian.
“This is hard to explain, but we should not have had to put up such a fight. It has drained us when we should and could be grieving our daughter.”
She added that the family was relieved that Webber had admitted the assault, which prevented them from sitting through a trial.
But she said: “This is far too little too late given everything that flowed from this.”
The court had heard the assault was not reported to police and was dealt with by Webber writing a letter of apology to Beck.
Speaking outside court, McCready said: “No sentence will ever be enough. While he serves his time, it’s us who will live with a life sentence.”
She said she had yet to see any real “change” and urged the Army to do more to give soldiers somewhere “truly independent” to report complaints “without fear or favour”.
“The Army cannot keep marking its own homework. Until that’s actioned, nothing will ever change,” she added.
During the incident, Webber started a drinking game with Beck called Last Man Standing before touching her thigh and trying to kiss her.
Beck pushed away Webber, then a Battery Sergeant Major, hid from him in a toilet, and spent the night locked in her car before making a complaint to her superiors the next morning.
She was found dead in her room at Larkhill Camp in Wiltshire on December 15, 2021, five months after the incident.
At the conclusion of her inquest in February this year, Nicholas Rheinberg, the assistant coroner for south-western Wiltshire, ruled that the Army’s failure to take appropriate action made a “more than minimal” contribution to her death.
Attacker’s career ‘continued unaffected’
Judge Large told Webber: “At some point in the early hours of July 13, you told Gunner Beck she was beautiful, you put your hand on the back of her head, you leant in to kiss her and you touched her thigh.
“She had the courage and good sense to tell you to stop and told you to go to bed, but you persisted to the extent she considered she wouldn’t be safe from you even if she went back to her own accommodation.”
He continued: “The next morning, she reported the incident to her family, her friends and her chain of command. Following the report, the unit decided to deal with you with minor administrative action.
“You were interviewed and you accepted your behaviour had been unacceptable. You wrote a letter of apology.
“Your career continued completely unaffected and you were in due course promoted to Warrant Officer 1.”
The judge told Webber he would serve half his sentence in custody and put him on the sex offenders’ register for seven years.
Victim statements written by McCready, Anthony Beck, Gunner Beck’s father, and Emilli Beck, her sister, were read to the court.
McCready described how she received a phone call from her “very upset” daughter following the incident, who had been “very scared” by Webber.
“My bright, confident daughter became quiet and withdrawn,” she said.
She described how Beck felt powerless by how Webber was dealt with, later finding out about his promotion – telling her “I got a letter, he got a promotion”.
“The assault shattered her faith in the system that was supposed to look after her,” McCready said.
“I truly believe that what he did and how it was handled broke something inside her that she couldn’t repair.”
‘Severely frightened’
Anthony Beck said Webber was a man of large build in a position of authority who had assaulted his daughter, who had just turned 19.
“Knowing that someone like him could sexually assault my baby makes me feel sick to my stomach,” he said.
“She was only 19. I could see what he had done completely changed her. It broke me to see that light go out in her.”
Emilli Beck paid tribute to her younger sister as “confident, career driven and always her authentic self”.
She described herself as “repulsed” at Webber’s actions, adding: “A man who was old enough to be her father had taken advantage of her”.
Seniors ‘inappropriate’ to Gunner Beck
James Farrant, prosecuting, told the court: “I am sure this court will find that whatever its justification at the time, it was not appropriate that this incident was dealt with administratively. It meant no police investigation could take place.”
Farrant added that a service inquiry later found Gunner Beck had been subjected to a “number of inappropriate behaviours by personnel senior to her in the months before her death”.
During her inquest, it emerged Beck had received thousands of messages from Bombardier Ryan Mason, another senior colleague.
Wiltshire Police investigated a harassment complaint submitted by Beck’s family after her death relating to Mason’s behaviour, but found the evidence did not support a criminal harassment case.
The force also investigated the incident involving Webber but declined to refer it to the Crown Prosecution Service, Farrant added.
Following Beck’s inquest, Wiltshire Police transferred jurisdiction of the case to the Defence Serious Crime Unit.
The Service Prosecuting Agency charged Webber with sexual assault in August. He pleaded guilty to the charge on September 5.
The court heard that Webber, who is divorced with an estranged teenage daughter, served in the Army for 22 years before leaving in August this year. He now works as a truck driver.
Representing Webber, Matthew Scott said: “He is devastated by what happened to Miss Beck”.
He added that his client, who the court heard received £1200 ($2757) per month from a military pension, had an “exemplary military record” and described the incident as “out of character”.
Major General Jon Swift, assistant chief of the general staff, issued an unreserved apology to Gunner Beck’s family.
He added that the Army was “determined to make sure the same mistakes don’t happen again”, having rolled out cultural reform programmes and better training.
Louise Sandher-Jones, the Veterans Minister, said Gunner Beck’s death was a “tragedy” and that she remained “profoundly sorry” for the Army’s “failure to protect her”.
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