Emily Drouet's parents criticise university over daughter's suicide

The family of a student who took her own life after suffering abuse says she might be alive today if the University of Aberdeen had offered a "basic duty of care".

Emily Drouet, 18, killed herself at her Aberdeen halls of residence in March 2016 following weeks of verbal, physical and psychological abuse by her student boyfriend.

Angus Milligan, 21, pleaded guilty last Tuesday to three charges of assaulting Emily in the months leading up to her death.

Emily's mother Fiona told Sky News: "He's evil to the core. We want to make sure he doesn't damage our family any more than he already has but he's taken our daughter. He destroyed our daughter."

Emily bore signs of physical harm by Milligan when she consulted a student resident assistant (SRA) at Aberdeen University a week before she killed herself. They suspected she was being abused but didn't intervene. Neither the police nor Emily's parents were contacted.

The university says Emily denied she was being subjected to violence, but her family says she told the SRA she "didn't want to get him (Milligan) into trouble".

Emily's family told Sky News that while they hold Milligan alone responsible for their daughter's death, the university could have done more to prevent it.

Mrs Drouet said: "We're shocked. Why, when the university experienced him screaming and shouting abuse at Emily - as far as we're aware that was the first incident - they just told him to shut up, sent him back to his room, sent Emily to her room without any concern for her care… after she'd just been verbally abused in a really aggressive way, so aggressive that the whole halls heard it.

"Why were we not informed, because that was her in a vulnerable position. A crime had been committed and we weren't told. We're her next of kin and she'd just turned 18.

"Our expectations were basic safety for our daughter, basic care, and we don't feel any of that was delivered. They knew, the night when he strangled her, and she… almost died.

"Emily went to the SRA. She'd been to them on several occasions. She didn't say exactly what had happened with the abuse. She said events had happened that she was upset about and that he had been angry and the relationship was really bad. Obviously they could see she had a bright red swollen face and they asked her: 'Emily, has he hit you?' And Emily's reply was, 'No, I just don't want to get him into trouble.'

"They didn't follow it up. They didn't advise us that they felt Emily had been hurt. If they felt they couldn't advise us, could they not have sought some advice from Women's Aid? From a doctor? From the police? They left Emily in the same halls as him for it to happen again. So, already we feel there was a clear pattern of the violence emerging and escalating and nothing was done. We feel that the university could have saved our daughter if they had delivered the basic duty of care."

Milligan, a psychology student from Edinburgh, pleaded guilty at Aberdeen Sheriff Court to assaulting Emily on 10 March last year. He also pleaded guilty to threatening and abusing her over using abusive and offensive language and sending offensive, indecent, obscene and menacing texts to her.

Five other charges, including one alleging he attempted to choke her minutes before she killed herself, were dropped due to lack of evidence. He will be sentenced on 5 July.

Aberdeen University maintains that the first time staff suspected Emily was involved in an abusive relationship was in the week before her death. It claims that she denied any abuse had occurred and staff respected her wish that no action be taken.

Professor Margaret Ross, at Aberdeen University, said Emily's death "was a tragedy that was deeply upsetting" for everyone at the university.

She said: "The university is committed to supporting any students who are experiencing difficulties during their time here, however we must balance respecting our students' rights as independent adults with our own responsibilities to offer support.

"Having reviewed the circumstances surrounding Emily's death, we are satisfied that the level of support offered by the university prior to her death was appropriate, based on our knowledge of the circumstances at the time.

"Nonetheless we have since carried out a review of our student support procedures, and where we have identified opportunities we have made changes to enhance the level of support available."

Emily, who was the oldest of three children, was a "caring, fun-loving, kind and special daughter", say her parents.

Her parents haven't been back to work since the tragedy, having endured what they call a "year of torture" following their daughter's death.

Her father, Germain, said: "We never thought anything like that could ever happen. It's a haunting moment, it still doesn't feel real to us. We don't really know how to evolve from that moment."

:: Anyone feeling emotionally distressed or suicidal can also call Samaritans for help on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org in the UK.