An “extremely smart” Cambridge University student took her own life after years of mental health problems, a medical examiner has said.
Yasmin Lajoie, 34, was found dead at her shelter on May 25 after a phone call to psychiatric services led to them requesting a welfare check.
The investigation revealed Ms Lajoie had previously been cut and had a personality disorder.
She had told her family doctor that she felt “supported by her university”.
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Coroner Elizabeth Gray reported that Ms Lajoie died by suicide.
She was one of six Cambridge University students who died by suicide or suspected suicide between March and September last year.
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Ms. Lajoie was an experienced executive in the music industry before embarking on a degree in Humanities, Social Sciences and Political Sciences at Cambridge’s Hughes Hall as a mature student in 2021.
In a statement from her principal investigator, she was described as “extremely bright, intellectual,” but said there were “initial concerns” that she had struggled with writing essays.
The inquest revealed Ms Lajoie had previously attempted suicide, struggled with a cocaine addiction and had medical problems related to blood counts and platelet levels.
Ms Gray said the university’s “support was reasonable and appropriate”.
Ms Lajoie’s brother told the hearing: “She has had all the support she could have wished for from the university [sic] and everyone in their life – it’s one of those things.
He added that Ms Lajoie “may never have gotten over” losing her father in an accident when she was in her mid-teens.
Peterborough Town Hall was told the welfare check was carried out on May 25 after Ms Lajoie said in a phone call she was taking her own life.
The inquest found that a friend of Ms Lajoie’s in London had died by suicide “very recently”.
Ms Gray said at the end of the hearing: “It is absolutely clear the love and devotion and support she has had from her family.
“She clearly had a lot of mental health issues in her life, but this was a person that shone through to me who went into really hard study later in life and wanted to make it successful.”
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