A 20-year-old Coventry University student has been found dead in a halls of residence, becoming the eighth UK student to have died in less than a month.
West Midlands Police said the student was discovered at the Bishop Gate halls in the city centre last Friday, and detectives were treating the death as non-suspicious.
The man, who has not yet been named, is at least the eighth student to have died since Britain’s universities returned last month following the coronavirus lockdown.
The Coventry student was found dead in the Bishop Gate halls of residence (file picture)
Jeni Larmour (left), 18, a Newcastle University student; and Finn Kitson (right), 19, Cambridge University student, are among at least eight university students who have died so far this term
Coventry University is not thought to have put any student halls into lockdown, although its most recent data shows 36 students have tested positive for Covid-19.
The figures for the week ending October 6 included 21 students who had been on campus and 15 off campus. One employee was also confirmed to have had the virus.
Last month shocking footage showed hundreds of students at Coventry climbing on top of ping pong tables and raving at an accommodation block.
At least 200 students were thought to have crammed into a common room at Arundel House, close to the university’s main campus, ignoring social distancing guidelines and ‘rule of six’ restrictions.
Some revellers could be heard screaming, while a group of male students clambered on top of a table as they sang along to thumping music.
Today, a Coventry University spokesman said: ‘We are saddened by the death of one of our students. Our thoughts are with their family and friends at this awful time and we are offering all the support we can to the family.
‘We have a full range of mental health support services available for students and colleagues affected by this tragic news. We ask that the family’s privacy be respected.’
A West Midlands Ambulance Service spokesman said: ‘We were called to reports of a medical emergency on Tower Street at 6.55pm on October 16, two ambulances attended the scene.
‘On arrival we discovered one patient, a man. Sadly, it immediately became apparent nothing could be done to save him and he was confirmed dead at the scene.’
Bishop Gate is a university-owned halls which opened in 2018 and provides 725 ensuites and studios in flats of nine and ten rooms, costing up to £199 per week.
A West Midlands Police spokesman said: ‘We were called to the student accommodation on October 16 where the body of a man in his 20s was found.
‘His death is not being treated as suspicious and has been referred to the coroner.’
Among the students at other universities to have been found dead since they returned last month is University of Bath student Martin Bowers, 20, whose body was found in the River Avon on September 25 after he went missing six days earlier in Bristol.
On September 30, police also found the body of his fellow University of Bath student Alec Unsgaard who had been missing for 12 days after vanishing while out celebrating his 21st birthday, in a separate incident to that of Mr Bowers.
Then on October 3 and 4, there were three students who died in drugs-related deaths in Newcastle over one weekend, including Jeni Larmour, 18, who was found dead at the Richardson Road halls at Newcastle University after allegedly taking ketamine.
The bodies of University of Bath students Alec Unsgaard (left), 21, and Martin Bowers (right), 20, were both found last month after they went missing in separate incidents
Nottingham Trent University student Hope Starsmore, 20, died last Thursday, eight days after a car crash in Burgh Le Marsh, Lincolnshire
The next day a Northumbria University student aged 21, who was not named, was taken ill at his halls in Newcastle after allegedly taking MDMA and died in hospital.
That same day, a second Newcastle University student aged 18, also not named, was found dead at the Richardson Road halls after also allegedly taking ketamine.
Then on October 8, University of Manchester student Finn Kitson, 19, was found dead at the university’s Fallowfield halls of residence.
And last Thursday, Nottingham Trent University student Hope Starsmore, 20, died eight days after a car crash in the Lincolnshire town of Burgh Le Marsh.
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