Police make eleven arrests after four young people die in suspected drugs incidents
Officers investigating the deaths of four young people over the weekend have made 11 arrests and carried out searches with drugs dogs.
They've now launched a large-scale investigation - drugs are suspected to have been a factor in the deaths.
Shortly after 6.05am on Saturday, police received the first report of an unresponsive woman at an address on Richardson Road. The 18-year-old, who was a student at Newcastle University, is believed to have taken a quantity of ketamine and was pronounced dead at the scene.
An 18-year-old male was arrested on suspicion of supplying a Class B drug and has since been released on police bail.
Then, just before 3.50pm on Saturday, they were called to a report of a cardiac arrest at a property on Coach Road Estate, Washington, where an 18-year-old had reportedly taken a quantity of MDMA and fallen ill.
Officers and emergency services attended but the man, who is not a university student, was pronounced dead a short time after. Seven people were arrested in connection with this incident and have since been released under investigation.
On Sunday, at 8.13am, they were then alerted to a report that a 21-year-old student from Northumbria University had taken ill at an address on Melbourne Street, Newcastle. It is suspected he had taken a quantity of MDMA. He was transported to hospital, but died a short time later.
A 20-year-old male arrested on suspicion of supplying Class A drugs has since been released on police bail.
Then, at around 1.10pm on Sunday, they received a further call to the same building on Richardson Road, where the first woman had been found. Sadly, another 18-year-old student had died. It is believed ketamine had been present at the address.
An 18-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of supplying a controlled drug and has been released on police bail.
On Tuesday, Police then made a further arrest, with officers confirming another male aged 30, had also been arrested on suspicion of possession with intent to supply Class A drugs. He has since been released on police bail.
Police have also confirmed they carried out a number of consent-based room searches at student accommodation with the Force’s drugs dogs, in collaboration with student wellbeing teams at Newcastle University and further patrols will be carried out today.
One of the girls has been named as 18-year-old Jeni Larmour from Northern Ireland. Her old Headmaster Graham Montgomery from The Royal School Armagh has paid tribute to her as 'a fantastic pupil who was highly thought of' - and says they're all incredibly sad:
Chief Inspector Steve Wykes said: “This weekend we have seen the tragic loss of four young lives and our thoughts continue to be with the family and friends of those who have sadly died."
He added: “We will continue to work with both universities and will be increasing our patrols in the areas where these tragedies have occurred.
"We would urge anyone with any information in relation to these tragedies to come forward – even the smallest piece of information could help us.
"If anyone has any information about who has supplied the drugs in question then we would also encourage them to contact us at the earliest opportunity."
The Vice Chancellor of the University of Newcastle Chris Day has paid tribute to them in a press conference this afternoon:
The Vice Chancellor has also written to all their students:
Dear students,
It is with the greatest sadness that I am writing to inform you that over the weekend, two of your fellow students have tragically lost their lives.
We are all heartbroken and our thoughts and condolences are with their families, friends and loved ones at this most difficult of times.
We know that many of you will be affected by this distressing news. All those who were friends of the students or who have been directly affected by their deaths are receiving support from our wellbeing team and if there is anyone else who needs help or wants to speak to us about this, please contact the team at https://www.ncl.ac.uk/wellbeing/
The loss of these two young lives from our University has been felt acutely across our whole community and the University Executive Team is working closely with the Students’ Union and the Police to understand what support can be put in place.
As this is an ongoing police investigation, I’m afraid I cannot give you any more details at this time.
Investigations are still at an early stage and we are supporting the police in every way we can to help them establish the circumstances surrounding the deaths.
However, I am sure many of you will have seen the urgent warning that was issued late last night by Northumbria Police, highlighting the tragic deaths of four young people in our region over the weekend. Their full statement and information can be found here and I would urge you to read it.
I hope this explains my urgent email yesterday which was sent out of genuine concern for your safety. Given that we were aware of 4 potentially drug-related deaths in 18-21 yr olds in the past 48 hours, I felt I had little choice but to send out this message before another evening began. I’m afraid there was very little information I could give you at that time and sharing this news with you now is devastating for us all.
Please stay safe and look out for each other and do not hesitate to contact our wellbeing team at https://www.ncl.ac.uk/wellbeing/ if you need help and support.
All my best wishes
Professor Chris Day, Vice-Chancellor and President
Maddie Roberts, a student from Newcastle University, has since set up a petition, calling on Newcastle Student's Union to give out free testing kits to students: