Jeni Larmour: Student was given drugs that killed her - coroner

Jeni Larmour had been a deputy head girl at the Royal School, Armagh

A high-achieving student died on her first night at university after taking drugs given to her "by another", a coroner has ruled.

Jeni Larmour, 18, from Newtonhamilton, County Armagh, died on 3 October 2020, hours after arriving in Newcastle.

She consumed a lethal combination of alcohol and ketamine, a tranquiliser which she snorted with one of her new flatmates, an inquest heard.

Newcastle coroner Karen Dilks concluded Miss Larmour's death was misadventure.

Having heard from the flatmate involved - Kavir Kalliecharan - other student witnesses, a Home Office pathologist and police, Mrs Dilks gave her view of the circumstances of the death "on the balance of probabilities".

She said the former deputy head girl had arrived at Newcastle University and had drunk alcohol with flatmates between 17:00 and 19:00.

"Later that evening, while her judgement was impaired due to alcohol, Jeni took a quantity of ketamine provided for her by another, the combined effects of which led to her death," she said.

Mr Kalliecharan, 20, from Leeds, was not charged with supplying the ketamine and told police the drugs belonged to Miss Larmour.

Police searched the flat in Park View halls with sniffer dogs and found ketamine, cannabis and MDMA in Mr Kalliecharan's room but he insisted the ketamine was not his.

No drugs were found in other students' rooms in the flat, including Miss Larmour's.

Daughter 'vindicated'

The inquest heard Miss Larmour filmed a Snapchat video on her phone showing her in Mr Kalliecharan's bedroom with white powder on a table.

It was not played in open court but was seen by witnesses.

Andrew Metcalfe, then an acting detective sergeant with Northumbria Police, said the video revealed no evidence of either student coercing or pressuring the other to take drugs.

Mr Kalliecharan was later sentenced to two years on conditional discharge after pleading guilty possessing Class A and Class B drugs.

He had previously told the inquest that the pair had returned to the halls in a taxi after Miss Larmour was turned away from a city centre bar because she did not have ID.

Miss Larmour's mother, Sandra, addressed members of the media following the ruling

Following the conclusion of the hearing, Miss Larmour's mother, Sandra, said her daughter had been "vindicated".

"I have had to hear the substance that killed Jeni was her own and that she was wilfully engaged with the supplying of these drugs to others.

"I have always known this could not be further from the truth, particularly given the fact just a few hours earlier Jeni had boarded a plane with me from Belfast, meaning she would've had to take the substance with her.

"The coroner's acknowledgement that the drugs were provided to her by another, or in other words, [they were] not her own, is a huge comfort to us.

"Jeni forgot her ID that night. If she hadn't, or the bar she was seeking to enter had let her in or somebody different had gone back to the room with her, we don't feel this would've happened.

"I will be forever proud of my daughter's achievements. Nobody can ever take that away from me."

Student backlash

During the hearing, Lucy Backhurst, the university's academic registrar and director of student services, said: "Jeni was just the sort of bright, able student we want studying with us at Newcastle University," she said.

She said the university had a compulsory online induction programme with information about drink and drugs.

But after Miss Larmour's death there had been a backlash when the vice-chancellor emailed students a "stark" warning about the risks of drink and drugs, she said.

"We got an awful lot of kickback from students [saying], 'Who do you think you are, telling us what to do'?"

Mrs Dilks highlighted that none of the flatmates who gave evidence could recall any information from the university's induction course.

The university said since the death it had "further developed" its harm reduction stance and had introduced "additional educational material" that students had to view at the start of their studies.