Oxford University scholar nicknamed ‘Future Prime Minister’ drowned whereas celebrating finish of exams, inquest hears

An Oxford student drowned in a river after jumping in to celebrate the end of his first-year exams as part of a tradition known as ‘trashing’.

Wesley Akum-Ojong, 19, jumped from a bridge into the water alongside other students while wearing full academic dress, witnesses reported at the time.

The court heard today he had been in ‘heavy clothing’ after heading to the Port Meadow beauty spot following his final exam.

Coroner Nicholas Graham heard the former grammar schoolboy was filmed leaping from the bridge – and seen to resurface – but did not make it out of the water. 

When friends realised he was missing around 45 minutes later they called 999 and the teenager’s body was later recovered from the bottom of the River Thames by firefighters.

The student, who was studying politics, philosophy and economics, had the nickname Future Prime Minister and dreamed of becoming Britain’s youngest PM, the court heard. Mr Graham was told he was said to have been ‘apprehensive’ about jumping off the bridge.

Wesley Akum-Ojong (pictured), 19, jumped from a bridge into the water alongside other students after heading to the Port Meadow beauty spot following his final exam

The student, who was studying politics, philosophy and economics, had the nickname Future Prime Minister and dreamed of becoming Britain’s youngest PM 

Trashing is a long-standing Oxford tradition where students throw food, alcohol or confetti over those finishing their final exams, but in recent years the university has tried to clamp down on the practice by urging students to ‘celebrate sustainably’ instead.

Mr Graham said Mr Akum-Ojong was wearing ‘heavy clothes’ at the time of the incident.

A video taken of the moment he leapt into the water showed him appearing ‘to be struggling a little’ in the water, but ‘nobody seems to have realised’, one of the attending police officers said. 

The coroner heard around 200 people were at Port Meadow at the time, but it took 45 minutes before friends realised Wesley was missing.

One friend, named only as Student A, told police how Mr Akum-Ojong had finished his last exam at 5.30pm that evening in June. Mr Graham read extracts of her statement in which she described how ‘lots of students walked to Port Meadow following their final exams covered in ‘confetti and powder’ before jumping into the river to ‘wash it all off’.

The court heard Wesley jumped in with others after a friend conducted a countdown. The student noticed Mr Akum-Ojong resurface and assumed he would swim to the bank as she continued to watch those still jumping in.

The student added: ‘After about two minutes I asked if anyone had seen Wesley and was told ‘I’m sure he’s got out’. 

The student herself believed she had seen him swimming towards the bank, but she later found his phone amongst the swimming students’ possessions and knew that if he had emerged from the water, Mr Akum-Ojong would have collected his phone.

Students called the Porter’s Lodge at Brasenose College to see if Mr Akum-Ojong had returned home, then dialled 999. Student A and a friend then set off along the bank in search of the teenager.

Map showing the location of Port Meadow near Oxford

A second student, referred to as Student B, told how she was on the bridge at the same time as the tragic student. She told police she spent about an hour swimming after jumping in and ‘found it hard to understand how someone could’ve missed Wesley being in distress in the water.’

A third student who had been in the group who walked to the river with Mr Akum-Ojong said he had ‘expressed some anxiety about jumping in’, but had been smiling alongside his friends in pictures taken in the lead-up to the tragedy.

In a statement read by the coroner, Dr Simon Smith, a senior tutor and admissions tutor at Brasenose College, said: ‘There’s no single trashing day but we are aware of the practice.’

He added that the university had re-run a campaign this year encouraging students to celebrate sustainably. 

The campaign points out that ‘Littering as a result of ‘trashing’ is illegal’. It warns that anyone who throws, pours or sprays substances after their exams were liable to a £150 fine for breaching the university’s Code of Discipline.

The court heard Mr Akum-Ojong, who previously attended Watford Grammar School for Boys, jumped from the bridge at 6.52pm and the emergency services were called at 7.29pm. 

He was found at 8.10pm and paramedics and an air ambulance doctor spent an hour and 20 minutes trying to revive him before the student was taken to hospital. 

Mr Akum-Ojong, from Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, was pronounced dead at Oxford’s John Radcliffe Hospital at 9.43pm.

The coroner heard around 200 people were at Port Meadow at the time, but it took 45 minutes before friends realised Wesley was missing. (File image of Port Meadow) 

A pathologist recorded the cause of death as drowning – a conclusion challenged by the student’s mother, Patience Akum-Ojong and other relatives who queried why more blood than water had been found in the teenager’s lungs.

The family also asked how many other students had died in similar circumstances at Oxford. 

Jane Harris, co-director of student welfare and support services at the university, said records going back 12 years showed that Mr Akum-Ojong was the only student to die in water during a ‘celebration’.

Mr Graham, Area Coroner for Oxfordshire, recorded a verdict of accidental death and said Mr Akum-Ojong’s death after the incident at the ‘popular wild swimming area’ was a ‘tragedy’.

University members wear academic dress at University ceremonies, examinations and some official meetings. 

The form of robes worn can be traced back to the coats and ecclesiastical robes of medieval Europe, when dress marked the rank and profession of the wearer.

In the weeks before his death, Mr Akum-Ojong had written a blog published on the Brasenose website in which he described his first year at university as ‘the best period of my life so far’.