Nigerian student studying in the UK took own life in Sheffield following visa concerns
The student was only 17 when he arrived to the UK
A university student seeking asylum in the UK took his own life when faced with deportation, an inquest revealed.
The 19-year-old student - who The Star has chosen not to name - was found dead in the Archways accommodation on Leadmill Road in Sheffield on June 15, 2025.
It was said in an inquest at Sheffield Medico-Legal Centre on Friday (September 11) that he had been staying with a friend who was also from Nigeria after facing struggles with his own studies at Teesside University.
Assistant coroner Nathalie James told the court that the student had “not known to suffer from mental health issues” or drug dependency in the past.
Victoria Dixon, a solicitor at the Middlesbrough-based Teesside University, appeared via live-link to give evidence and explained how the student had originally enrolled in 2023 when he was just 17.
The university sponsored his visa while he studied computer science.
As part of regulations, the university sought approval from the student’s parents before he was allowed to enrol, and his uncle in Scotland was named as a guardian while he was in the UK.
However, the student faced issues in his foundation year studies, the court was told, with low attendance and ultimately having to resit three modules in the summer of 2024.
There were also financial concerns, which Ms Dixon said was common with international students at the time due to “currency fluctuations” in Nigeria.
Despite this, contact was never made with the student’s parents or guardian, with Ms Dixon explaining that under the law they can only make contact when it’s in a student’s “vital interest,” adding: “Which really means immediate threat to life or the person is suffering from a severe mental health issue.
“Neither circumstance was prevalent in [this] situation.”
These rules apply to anyone over 16, with the university not acting in a parental capacity, the court was told.
She went on to say that since this incident, the university has implemented better “triangulation” systems, which seeks to identify where individual issues that might not otherwise trigger a safeguarding alert do reveal more when put into context with the student’s other behaviours.
All members of staff are also now alerted to which students are under 18, which the court heard was not the case at the time.
Unfortunately, the student failed one of his resits in the summer of 2024 and was told he would have to restudy that module the following year.
This meant that between September and January of that year he was no longer enrolled at the university, which cancelled his sponsorship and the UK Visa and Immigration Service (UKVI) were informed.
Ms Dixon said that in cases like these the UKVI typically give students “a date by which they have to leave the country” but confirmed that the university “don’t get to know” the outcome.
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This student in this case briefly reached out to ask for aid in staying in the country, or enrolling in a university in Nigeria, however the court was told these conversations did not go far.
The university did not reach out to the student again - who at this time was 18 - until January 2025, when they called on him to re-enrol onto his resit module, however he provided an “angry” response and did not return.
Six months later and he had tragically died, with the coroner saying it “cannot be ascertained” what he did in that time.
Ms James concluded that the student had died by suicide.
“Based on the evidence that I have read I am satisfied on the balance of probabilities that [the student] brought about the end of his life and intended to do so,” she added.
The coroner passed on her sympathies to friends and family in attendance.
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