Cambridge University: Yasmin Lajoie took own life after struggles

Yasmin Lajoie died by suicide, a coroner concluded

An "extremely bright" Cambridge University student took her own life after mental health struggles over a number of years, a coroner said.

Yasmin Lajoie, 34, was found dead in her accommodation on 25 May after a phone call with mental health services led them to request a welfare check.

The inquest heard Ms Lajoie had previously been sectioned and had a personality disorder.

She had told her GP she "felt supported by her university".

Area coroner for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, Elizabeth Gray, recorded that Ms Lajoie died by suicide.

She was one of six Cambridge University students to die by suicide or suspected suicide between March and September last year.

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Ms Lajoie was an experienced music industry executive before she began a degree in human, social and political sciences as a mature student at Cambridge's Hughes Hall in 2021.

In a statement from her director of studies she was described as "extremely bright, intellectual", but there were "initial concerns" that she had struggled with essay writing.

The inquest heard Ms Lajoie had previously tried to take her own life, had struggled with a cocaine addiction and had been experiencing medical issues relating to blood count and platelet levels.

Ms Gray said the "support offered by the university was appropriate and suitable".

Ms Lajoie's brother told the hearing: "She got all the support she could have asked for from the uni [sic] and everybody in her life - it's one of those things."

He added that Ms Lajoie "possibly never got over" losing her father in an accident while she was in her mid-teens.

Peterborough Town Hall was told the welfare check on 25 May was undertaken after Ms Lajoie said in a telephone call she was going to take her own life.

The inquest heard a friend of Ms Lajoie from London had died by suicide "a very short time beforehand".

Ms Gray said at the end of the hearing: "It's absolutely clear what love and devotion and support she had from her family.

"She clearly had great difficulties in her life in terms of her mental health, but this was a person who shone through to me, who started really tough studies later in life and wanted to make a success of it."

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