‘Talented’ student, 18, died after taking ketamine on first day at university, inquest told

A “talented” student died within hours of starting university from a combination of ketamine and alcohol, an inquest has heard.

Jeni Larmour, 18, was described by her family as a “clever witty girl with a big personality and an infectious laugh”. She was about to start a degree in planning and architecture at Newcastle University when she died during her first night on campus.

Ms Lamour consumed a fatal combination of the drug ketamine and alcohol and was found by paramedics at 5am on 3 October 2020.

A fellow student, Kavir Kalliecharan, told the inquest that he had sniffed ketamine with Ms Lamour on the night of her death.

Mr Kalliecharan, who faced drug charges following her death, told the inquest that Ms Lamour supplied him with ketamine on the night in question.

He said seven members of the student flat in Park View halls had pre-drinks to get to know each other before going out to Points bar in Newcastle’s Bigg Market.

He said Ms Larmour was not allowed entry to the bar as she had forgotten her student ID, so he took a taxi with her back to the flat to get it.

After he used the en-suite toilet in his room, he claimed she knocked on the door. He told the inquest at Newcastle Coroner’s Court: “She was holding two bags and said one had ketamine in and offered if I would like to have some.”

He claimed she made two lines of the powder, and while using her phone to film a Snapchat, said she was “not going to ‘do’ it in two, but in one”.

He said he sniffed a line by covering a nostril and immediately felt dizzy and went to the toilet to vomit.

Ms Lamour had been lying on his bed and came in to check on him, he said. “I remember throwing up and then passing out in the bathroom,” he said.

When he woke up at about 5am the next day, he found Ms Larmour lying face down on the floor in his room.

“I tried to wake her up, I thought she had passed out, that’s when I went to get other members of the flat to help,” he told the hearing.

“I told them we had taken ketamine, I said I thought she was in a ‘k-hole’ which is passing out from taking ketamine.”

A Home Office pathologist, Dr Nigel Cooper, told the inquest that Ms Larmour’s alcohol level was two and a half times the legal driving limit and she had 1.3 milligrammes of ketamine per litre of blood in her system.

The ketamine level was “below the range of levels that would typically cause death” and Ms Lamour’s alcohol intake would have caused “moderate intoxication”.

However Dr Cooper said that the cocktail of both was enough to kill Ms Larmour.

“Hypostasis discolouration would suggest she had been dead for some hours when she was found at around 5am,” he said.

Jeni Lamour was a high-achieving student who obtained four A* A-levels.

Her mother, Sandra Lamour, said: “She took on mammoth tasks other people would have avoided but she attacked everything with vim, speed and efficiency. She was an accomplished singer and actress and was declared by many as being fit for the London stage.

“She was grounded and sensible and had a part time job in the village shop in our nearest village.”

The inquest continues.