Colonel Samantha Shepherd was on trial at the Military Court Centre at Catterick Garrison.
A senior Army officer has been cleared by a court martial of failing to deal properly with allegations made by a teenage soldier who took her own life five months later.
Colonel Samantha Shepherd was on trial at the Military Court Centre at Catterick Garrison, in North Yorkshire, alongside Major James Hook, with both officers accused of “conduct prejudicial to good order and service discipline”.
Prosecutors said on Tuesday that both senior officers “let down” Gunner Jaysley Beck when she told them about an incident which happened on a Royal Artillery adventure training exercise on Thorney Island, in Chichester Harbour, in July 2021.
The court martial board heard how Gunner Beck told both officers about behaviour towards her by Warrant Officer Michael Webber at a social event during the exercise.
Prosecutors said the young soldier “told each of them enough to understand that she may been sexually assaulted”.
The board of three senior military officers heard how Gunner Beck, 19, died in December 2021.
On Wednesday, Assistant Judge Advocate General Edward Legard told the board: “The Crown has concluded that there is insufficient evidence upon which you can safely convict Colonel Shepherd of the charge she faces.”
The board, which consists of an Air Commodore, a Royal Navy captain and an Army colonel, formally returned a not guilty verdict, on the directions of the judge, and Col Shepherd left the court.
The trial of Maj Hook continues.
