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British Fresher Died After Lethal Mix Of Food And Alcohol In Banned Initiation

British Fresher Died After Lethal Mix Of Food And Alcohol In Banned Initiation

The group had also been forced to eat ‘raw eggs, chicken feet and baby food’

Jess Hardiman

Jess Hardiman

A university student who died after an initiation ceremony was forced to eat 'raw eggs, chicken feet and baby food' and a lethal amount of alcohol, an inquest told.

Edward Farmer, 20, passed away in December 2016 at the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle - after an Newcastle University Agricultural Society event went sour.

The freshman student was given less than a two percent chance of survival, having downed a lethal amount of spirit - five times the legal drink-drive limit.

Newcastle Coroner's Court today heard that Farmer and his fellow students were given 'whole eggs, raw potato, chicken feet, baby food and some chillies' to eat, and had also been told to bring £30, a metro card and a 70cl bottle of spirit.

According to the BBC, the group also bobbed for apples in a mixture of urine and alcohol.

Ed Farmer/Facebook

Henry Sweeting, another first year who was with Farmer on the night out, told the court: "Ed was more nervous than I was. I knew there would be a large volume of drinking.

"I assumed we'd have to drink our bottle of spirits and the other items on the list...we didn't know what they were for."

Farmer passed out in the middle of the bar crawl, but was carried onto a train before being dumped in another person's flat.

One student reportedly thought Farmer was sleeping deeply as he snored loudly, but the inquest was told it actually signified partial obstruction of his airways.

He reportedly suffered a cardiorespiratory arrest, as his brain was starved of oxygen.

Facebook/Ed Farmer

"That in turn was due to acute alcohol toxicity. We can attribute his death to the effects of alcohol," said the pathologist Dr Jennifer Bolton.

Intensive care consultant Dr Benjamin Messer said: "Had he come into hospital prior to that arrest, my opinion is the outcome would have been different."

Guy Stoben, who had known Farmer before they went to university after meeting in 2010, said that they had been expecting to eat things like 'garlic or dog food'.

It wasn't until 4am that friends realised Farmer wasn't breathing.

Stobentold the court: "I put my hand over his mouth to see if I could feel him breathing but I couldn't feel anything.

"I put my hand to his neck to see if I could feel a pulse but I still couldn't feel anything.

"I lifted him by his shoulders and was trying to shake him to see if I could get him to respond, but I couldn't get any kind of response."

The inquest continues.

Featured Image Credit: Family handout

Topics: Students, News, UK