Soldier feared ‘possessive’ boss had ‘hacked her phone’ before she was found dead

A teenage soldier believed to have taken her own life felt ‘trapped’ by the ‘possessive’ and ‘creepy’ behaviour of her boss, an inquest has heard.

Royal Artillery Gunner Jaysley Beck, 19, was found dead at Larkhill Camp in Wiltshire ten days before Christmas in 2021.

An Army report previously found she suffered an ‘intense period of unwelcome behaviour’ from Bombadier Ryan Mason and sait it was ‘almost certain this was a causal factor’ in Jaysley’s death.

On the first day of the inquest into her death, her mum, Leighann McCready, said her daughter ‘did not feel safe’ and that Mr Mason had ‘hacked’ her phone.

She said Jaysley felt Mr Mason was ‘a bit obsessive’, claiming that she received 3,600 messages from him over a period of one month shortly before her death.

Ms Mcready said her daughter gave him emotional support for what she believed were mental health issues.

The inquest was shown numerous WhatsApp messages exchanged by the pair over the three months leading up to Jaysley’s death.

In one message, Mr Mason told her: ‘Love you Jayse. As a friend.

In another, he wrote: ‘I’m renaming you in my phone as the magician.’

A couple of weeks later he wrote: ‘You’re amazing Jayse, I appreciate you so much, I love everything about you, even your flaws.

‘I will always be there along for the ride with you, I have said it before but you’re stuck with me forever now. I love you x As a friend, I love you.’

Two weeks after that, the 19-year-old wrote: ‘This whole falling in love with me, its becoming a bit too much, I have just come out of a relationship and I’m just not wanting to be involved in anything like this.

‘It’s weighing me down a little bit, I’ll be totally honest with you.

‘Totally honest here, I just don’t want to hear how you feel about me.’

Jaysley eventually began to express concerns towards Mr Mason.

She wrote to him: ‘When you said you seen me leav camp I was a bit taken back like are you watching me when you say things like “You’re there” it’s just weird and the whole thing is just bizarre.”

In a message sent by Gunner Beck to Mr Mason on December 4, she said: ‘It’s snapping me, I have replied to you and in the space of a couple of minutes you sent three texts and tried to phone me. Can you understand why I think it’s a bit too much?’

Ms McCready said her daughter ‘made us aware that he is becoming a creep’ and was ‘freaking her out’.

She told the inquest: ‘There was a time when she was on the phone to me and said “Mum I think he’s hacked my phone” because he knows exactly where I am standing and he’s meant to be away.’

She said Jaysley phoned her when she was staying in a hotel in Newbury on a work trip eight days before her death and was ‘upset and crying’.

The teenager was ‘afraid something would happen, she thought he had tracked her phone and was listening to her conversation’, Ms McCready added.

The inquest was shown a draft message that Gunner Beck written for Mr Mason.

It said: ‘I honestly feel trapped in this whole situation, I have tried to act as normal as possible because we are working together but nothing normal about this situation.

‘It’s possessive and psychotic, you have to understand it’s not normal behaviour.

‘I am struggling to deal with all of this, it’s taking a huge toll on my own mental health for many personal reasons. I need time out.’

Ms McCready said Jaysley had also been suffering emotionally from the recent end of a relationship and the suicide of her uncle in August 2020.

The hearing was also told the teenager had complained reported a sergeant who put his hand ‘between her legs’ during a team-building trip in Hampshire four months before her death.

Ms McCready said Jaysley was too scared to go back to her room that night and slept in her car.

Jaysley was said to have been angered by an apology letter from the sergeant – who received a minor sanction – which ended by saying his ‘door was open’ for her.

The inquest continues.