Inquest opens as parents call for 'Harry's Law' to be introduced
The two-day inquest is underway
Last updated 6th Oct 2022
A two-day inquest today opened into the death of a 21-year-old student from Cornwall who took his own life while at the University of Exeter last year.
Harry Armstrong Evans' father Rupert and mother Alice say they had been in touch with the university following their son’s efforts to reach out to his tutor – following what they believe was an ‘anomalously low grade that had scuppered his chances of further post-graduate study’.
They say 11 students have taken their lives in the past six years and are calling for a ‘Harry’s Law duty of care’ to be placed on universities for undergraduate pupils - and compulsory mental health awareness training.
Harry’s parents are due to give evidence tomorrow, with the inquest this morning opening by hearing from the university itself.
Matthew Browning, an associate professor of astrophysics who held weekly tutorial meetings with Harry but had no role in deciding final grades, said meetings – both in person and online - would start by asking students ‘how their weeks went’ and then discuss any difficulties the student was having.
Professor Browning said Harry was often ‘shy and withdrawn’ but he had no ‘significant concerns’ – and had in the past referred other pupils to support services where he felt necessary.
His clearest memory of Harry was from week 10, in Mid-March 2021, where they sat outside removing masks and taking turns with mock job interviews – where Harry did an ‘incredible job’ for someone shy and withdrawn - and they regularly discussed what Harry might do after university, something he was still undecided about.
When concerns were raised by Harry’s family, Professor Browning did escalate it and ask for advice – but Mr Browning was unsure if he could communicate with the family without Harry’s explicit permission because he was an adult.
Harry, a third-year student of Physics and Astrophysics, wrote to the university after being told his mum had raised concerns and formally asked to take exams and not be ‘capped’ – worrying low grades could scupper further post-graduate study.
Harry and Professor Browning discussed options and Harry agreed to continue with the exams. Mr Browning says he told the parents about the support available for Harry, but did not want to break any confidentiality in his response to them.
Professor Browning said he did not have students personal numbers as he offered a ‘professional relationship’ – but stressed students are encouraged to reach out through usual channels including his active Microsoft Teams presence and offered an ‘open door’ policy.
The inquest discussed Harry’s “unusual but not unprecedented” drop in average attainment, according to Professor Browning.
He told the inquest, his approach was asking: “Do you know what went wrong and do you want to talk about it?”
Harry replied that he didn’t have a clear explanation of why he did ‘so badly’ and didn’t go into more detail than ‘maybe I hadn’t studied enough’. Professor Browning explained his approach has always been to ‘look forward’ as he felt it was a ‘surmountable problem’.
The inquest heard that university rules say they should ‘consider with the pupil’ whether to contact parents about concerns - but contact with parents without permission is possible if the university feels there is an ‘immediate risk’.
Professor Browning said he would respect the students wishes unless ‘red flags’ were present.
When asked for an example of a red flag, he said: “I’ve given up,” and expressing suicidal intentions in an overt manner.
Professor Browning said he was ‘very worried’ about ‘other disconnected students that year’ but Harry was not one of them.
He recounted a second email from Harry’s mother who suggested the university might need to take the lead to ‘reach out’ to Harry – but he had concerns about ‘emailing Harry out of the blue’ and at the time he was at home with his parents and Harry contacted him the following week.
Internal email chains from Professor Browning show him asking for clarification of the rules surrounding contact with an adult student’s parents – but he says he was aware of the option to have dialogue over serious concerns if needed.
In an email from Harry to his tutor Harry openly talked about his ‘isolation’ and ‘poor result’s and had felt it was time to ‘speak up’ about personal problems and pandemic-related struggles.
Harry asked for options, and Professor Browning replied with an empathetic email, offered to meet him and referred Harry for support – and looked at what cost-effective options could be made to reduce the number of exams Harry was due to sit.
When asked if on reflection the email amounted to a ’red flag’. Professor Browning felt it ‘wasn’t quite at that level’ and he had referred the email to ‘experts in the field’ at the university.
The inquest heard no one directly contacted Harry or his parents from the university, despite requests from his parents.
Professor Browning said he can act as a ‘shoulder to cry on’ and ‘did not feel his training was inadequate’.
He was questioned by Harry’s parents who were invited to help inform the inquest.
Head of department Professor Tim Harries told the inquest tutors ‘are not mental health and wellbeing experts’ and their role is to signpost students to wellbeing and ‘it is not the case that every student who fails exams is having mental health problems’.
He also outlined the ‘scaling’ process for results as a result of the various pandemic-related restrictions - and said all pupils had been informed about the grade mitigation system.
Professor Harries said Harry had 20 hours contact with Professor Browning prior to his death.
Professor Tim Harries admitted he had not personally attended in-person training on suicide prevention.
Harry’s parents also asked why certain subjects – which may traditionally attract pupils with certain characteristics – are not specially catered for? The university said it was reluctant to ‘generalise’ pupils and said support systems are in place – including meeting his tutor 22 times, someone who wasn’t assessing him.
When asked if universities should publish a suicide league table, to help highlight the support on offer and also draw attention to the issue, Professor Harries said he would need to look in more detail if that was the best solution.
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