A student took his own life after he became convinced that he was suffering from incurable cancer.
Charles Henry Johnson, 18, died soon after he moved into University of York student accommodation at Philip Brockbank Court, Deramore Lane, an inquest heard yesterday (Monday).
A post mortem later found that he had been healthy and was free of cancer.
A day or two after he arrived at the University of York on 16 September 2023, his neighbouring students knocked on his door and invited him to join them for a drink. But he declined, saying he was still unpacking.
It appears to be the last time he was seen alive.
On the morning of 20 September, his father James contacted the university, concerned about a lack of contact from Charles.
Two safety officers from the university went to his room at about 11am. After receiving no response to their knock, they gained entry and found Charles lying on his bed.
He appeared lifeless and cold. They phoned for an ambulance and attempted to resuscitate him with CPR and a defibrillator.
Paramedics arrived soon afterwards and pronounced him dead at 11.51am.
Police attended and confirmed there were no visible injuries. His room door and window had been locked, and there were no discarded bottles of alcohol, drugs paraphernalia or prescription medication nearby.
He had not unpacked.
The officers concluded that the death was not suspicious and there was no third party involvement.
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A post mortem found his organs were healthy and his brain was normal. There were no drugs or alcohol in Charles’ system. The cause of death was suffocation.
His body showed increased ketone levels, possibly due to fasting. This may have caused changes to his mental state prior to death. But the pathologist couldn’t say whether it did, or how much it may have affected events.
In notes found in his room at the university, Charles wrote that he was not depressed.
He stated that he had started to feel physically unwell about two years earlier. He believed he was suffering from stage 4 bowel cancer that had spread to his chest and brain.
According to his self-diagnosis it “wasn’t survivable”.
Alison Norton, assistant coroner for York and North Yorkshire, said the notes left in the room and some personal blog entries by Charles “indicated that he had made a decision to take his own life, rather than suffer with an illness that he believed that he had”.
Charles was brought up on a farm in Spalding, Lincolnshire. His father James, who attended the inquest, described him as “always happy, and interested in everything”.
He was very intelligent, and he achieved three A grade A levels in maths, physics and computer science. That secured him a place at the University of York to study computer science.
Charles had been looking forward to starting university, his father said, and hadn’t expressed any concerns about the move. Longer term, he had planned a career as a software engineer.
In her conclusion, Mrs Norton said she was satisfied on the balance of probabilities that Charles took his own life and intended to do so. Her conclusion was suicide.
Mrs Norton offered her sincere condolences to his family.