Teenage student died after going to bed with headache
A University of Northampton student who had been dedicated to following a career in social work was found dead in her campus flat by her best friend after complaining of headaches.
Sarah Hurley, aged 18, had been suffering from headaches in the days leading up to her death on Thursday, November 20 last year, and went to bed early the previous evening after being sick.
The social care and sociology student was living in a flat at William Cary Halls, on the university's Park campus, one flat above her best friend Lisa Robson, who she had known since school.
Miss Robson told an inquest at Northampton General Hospital yesterday that, the day before she died, Miss Hurley told her she had a headache.
She said: "She had been sick ... I went into her room and told her to go to bed. Her speech was quite slurred but I thought she was asleep.
"On the Thursday I asked my flatmate if she had seen Sarah, I thought possibly she decided to stay in bed.
"I went to Sarah's room, the lights were off and I could see her on the floor. She was cold."
Histopathologist Dr John Nottingham said Miss Hurley had suffered an intra-cerebral haemorrhage and had abnormal blood vessels in her brain.
He said: "There was a small amount of blood in the covering of the brain. There was a mass of abnormal blood vessels and a massive intercranial bleed that spread."
In a statement read to the court, Miss Hurley's father, Stephen, said: "Sarah was much loved and her death was a complete shock. We all miss her terribly."
Prior to university Miss Hurley had lived with her family in Stanmore, Middlesex.
Coroner Anne Pember recorded a verdict of death by natural causes.
She said: "She was only 18 years old and had her whole life ahead of her."
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