University of Exeter student death: IT fault in wellbeing service

The mother of Harry Armstrong Evans tried to get help for her son before he died, an inquest heard

The University of Exeter's wellbeing team never replied to a mother's pleas for help for her son because of a computer failure, an inquest has heard.

Harry Armstrong Evans was in his final year when he died at home in Launceston, Cornwall in June 2021.

His mother Alice had tried to raise concerns with the University of Exeter before he took his own life.

But the inquest heard a log of her phone call was closed due to computer issues.

'Biggest mistake of our lives'

Mrs Armstrong Evans told the inquest in Truro, Cornwall, she had been reassured that a member of the wellbeing team would contact her son.

"I spent a long time on the phone with an administration officer who said someone would get in touch with Harry," she said.

"I put my faith in the statement that someone would be in touch with him. I see that now as the biggest mistake of our lives."

She added she believed if he had been offered some additional outside support, "my beautiful, kind, clever much-loved son would still be alive with a future to look forward to".

The University of Exeter said an IT issue stopped them from responding to calls from a concerned mother

Mark Sawyer, the university's head of wellbeing and welfare services, told the inquest in Truro, Cornwall, that a voicemail message from Mrs Armstrong Evans was placed on a case management system.

The mother explained the third-year physics and astrophysics undergraduate had been concerned about passing his degree following disappointing module results.

He was also anxious about his family's finances with fears they would lose their home after his father lost a court case and faced legal bills.

But due to issues with the case management system, the logs were closed when a member of the welfare team replied to the admin team asking for further information.

'Technical challenges'

Mrs Armstrong Evans made a second call to the service later that month and was passed to a welfare practitioner to respond out-of-hours.

The inquest heard Mrs Armstrong Evans had only left her daytime contact details and when the practitioner replied to the admin staff asking for an alternative phone number, the log was closed.

"Because of these technical challenges about which button you press in the system, now we have become alerted to that, we have put in a completely different system for tracking student wellbeing inquiries," Mr Sawyer said.

Mr Armstrong-Evans died in June 2021

The student later emailed his personal tutor and the wellbeing service expressing concerns about his isolation during lockdown, his declining mental health and worries about his exams.

But Mr Sawyer said there was nothing in the email to indicate Mr Armstrong Evans was in a crisis and required an immediate response.

Mr Armstrong Evans's father, Rupert, asked My Sawyer whether he thought the university owed his son duty of care.

Mr Sawyer said it was "very hard for the university to manage the expectations upon it and it tried "to give good advice to students around signposting".

"What was apparent to us in this whole tragic case was that at no point did any of us recognise or notice any red flags for Harry's safety," he said.

'A force for good'

Rupert Armstrong Evans said as parents they did not have the full picture of the difficulties their son was going through.

"I had no idea that he would go on and take his own life, especially as there were no outward signs," he said.

"As his parents I can state without hesitation that if we had been aware of his situation everything would have been resolved."

Paying a tribute to his son, he said: "Harry was a force for good, being so kind and thoughtful of others.

"His family will keep him in their hearts forever trying to follow his example in being better people themselves from now on.

"He really was a gift from God and we all love you Harry, and we always will."

The inquest has been adjourned, with Assistant Coroner Guy Davies to deliver his findings and conclusions at a later date.