Three university students die in drug-related incident in Newcastle

Three university students in Newcastle have died after suspected drug-related incidents.

All three passed away over the course of one weekend, with a further death of a non-student teenager in Washington.

Two of the victims were 18-year-old female students at Newcastle University, who died within a day of each other, after reportedly taking class-B drug ketamine.

The first victim was identified as Jeni Lamour, an Architecture and Urban Planning student who died around 6am on Saturday, 3 October, within days of starting her degree.

Around 4pm that day, an 18-year-old man in Washington, Tyne and Wear, suffered cardiac arrest and died after reportedly taking class-A drug MDMA, known colloquially as ecstasy or molly.

On Sunday 4 October, a second female Newcastle student at the same student accommodation as Lamour was reported dead around 1pm. Newcastle University said its students had been in the city for less than 48 hours when they died.

Earlier that Sunday, police were called to Newcastle’s Melbourne Street around 8.15am, after a 21-year-old Northumbria University student fell ill. He was taken to hospital, where he later died. He is believed to have taken MDMA.

I think the reason it’s a concern about nightclubs in particular is that nightclubs often have paramedics, they have harm-reduction services and they have security staff that help keep people safe. So if you close the nightclubs you lose that safety net

– Professor Foina Measham

Police arrested 10 people in connection with the deaths, all of whom have been released on police bail. Northumbria police said officers carried out searches with sniffer dogs at student accommodation in collaboration with Newcastle University, with further patrols to be carried out.

Specialist officers are supporting the families of those involved and post-mortems are due to take place.

Chief Inspector Steve Wykes stated it was “too early” to say whether a “bad batch of drugs” was involved.

He said: “What we must remember is illegal drugs are never safe and so that message is incredibly important. But we are conducting significant inquiries to try and understand what the substances involved do contain.”

Newcastle University’s vice-chancellor, Chris Day, sent an email to students urging them to drink alcohol responsibly and reminding them of the dangers of drugs.

The university said it was “devastated” to learn of the deaths of two of its students, and said its wellbeing teams were providing support to those affected.

Professor Fiona Measham, chair in criminology at Liverpool University and co-founder of the harm-reduction charity, The Loop, expressed concern on the lockdown restrictions, which have led to nightclubs being closed and pubs closing early.

She said: “I think the reason it’s a concern about nightclubs in particular is that nightclubs often have paramedics, they have harm-reduction services and they have security staff that help keep people safe. So if you close the nightclubs you lose that safety net.”