Colonel Samantha Shepherd, regimental colonel of the Royal Artillery, has been cleared of trying to cover up a sexual assault on 19-year-old Gunner Jaysley Beck, who took her own life five months after the incident. The charge against Col Shepherd was formally withdrawn by the prosecution on the second day of her court martial at Catterick Garrison, after the judge advocate ruled there was insufficient evidence to safely convict her. The case matters because it forms part of a wider examination of how the Army handled Gunner Beck's allegations before her death, and whether senior officers prioritised protecting their regiment over investigating the claim properly.

Gunner Beck had alleged that Warrant Officer Michael Webber, 43, tried to kiss her and touched her leg sexually after a social event during adventure training at Thorney Island in Hampshire in July 2021; she was found dead at her Wiltshire barracks that December. Col Shepherd had been accused of failing to pass full details of the allegation to the regimental adjutant to avoid a service police investigation, but this charge was dropped and she was formally acquitted. Her co-defendant, Major James Hook, who was reportedly the first person Gunner Beck told and allegedly discouraged her from making a formal complaint, remains on trial facing the same charge of conduct prejudicial to good order and discipline.