Student died after 'drink-fuelled initiation' which involved drinking vodka from pig's head, inquest hears

An economics student died after a "drink-fuelled initiation" into his university’s agriculture society which involved drinking vodka from a pig's head, an inquest has heard.

Ed Farmer, 20, a student at Newcastle University, was taken to hospital by friends with a shaven head after drinking large amounts of alcohol at the university social in December last year.

The former pupil at £31,000-a-year Oakham School, Rutland, died the following day with his parents, Jeremy and Helen Farmer, at his bedside. He was five times the drink driving limit when he died, the inquest at Newcastle Civic Centre heard.

The fatal incident took place in December 2017, when he joined a group of 30 students for a bar crawl around the city centre.

Mr Farmer was so drunk at the end of the evening, he had to be carried by other students back to one of their houses. While there, the first year students - including Mr Farmer - were expected to complete the initiation by having their heads shaved before crawling into a garage to drink vodka from a pig's head, coroner Karen Dilks was told.

Dr Reuben Saharia, the head of Accident and Emergency when Mr Farmer was admitted, gave evidence to the inquest, revealing that the young student was brought into hospital with a "shaved head, found to be amusing".

The student, who was taken to hospital at 5.45am on December 13 2016, would have likely survived had he been taken to hospital earlier, Dr Saharia said.

A pre-inquest hearing into the incident last October heard that his fellow students texted each other "deny, deny deny" as the police began an investigation into the 20-year-old’s death.

The hearing, expected to last five days, continues.