Death still a mystery (From Stroud News and Journal)

Death still a mystery

MYSTERY still surrounds the death of a former Marling School pupil who died unexpectedly at university.

Teetotal Oxford student Reignolde Mahboubian-Jones, 20, from Paganhill was an undergraduate chemistry student at Christ Church when he was found dead in his bed in November last year.

This week an Oxford inquest heard that at 10am on November 10, his room-mate at the college, Mr Dale Phipps, woke and knocked on his friend's bedroom door for him to get up because they had a tutorial at 10.30am.

Mr Phipps said "He sounded as though he had just woken up, we couldn't remember if our tutorial was at 10.30am or 11.30am so he asked me to check before he got up." Mr Phipps said that a few minutes later he heard noises coming from Mr Mahboubian-Jones' room.

He said: "I heard him making noises as if he was having a bad dream, I thought he had gone back to sleep and was having a nightmare".

At about 10.10am Mr Phipps telephoned their friend, Mr Edward Hall, who was also due to attend the tutorial.

Mr Hall said: "I arrived back at about 10.15am and was told that Reignolde was still in bed so I went to try and wake him up.

"When I walked into his room he was lying on his back with one of his arms hanging off the side and his eyes lightly open. I thought he must be dozing and said 'Try to get up' but there was no response".

Mr Hall said he knew then that his friend must be in distress and with Mr Phipps checked his pulse but they could feel nothing. He said: "We didn't know what was wrong, he didn't smoke or drink and didn't take drugs".

Mr Phipps rushed to get the university porter, Mr Henry Thompson, who also checked for a pulse but could not find one.

The night before November 10, Mr Mahboubian-Jones of Marling Crescent, Paganhill, Stroud, had been to Brixton Academy in London, with his friend Mr Peter Stockdale to watch a rock concert.

Mr Stockdale told the inquest that the evening passed uneventfully and the bus dropped his friend off at Christ Church at about 3am.

Mr Mahboubian-Jones's body was examined first by Dr Peter Millard, a pathologist at the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford. He said: "I found nothing suspicious and could find no cause of death, most causes are relatively obvious but there was nothing extraordinary about his body".

Mr Mahboubian-Jones was then examined by Home Office pathologist, Dr Nicholas Hunt, who also found no reliable cause of death. He said: "My findings were much the same as Dr Millard's and have not been able to ascertain any cause of death".

Mr Malcolm Mahboubian-Jones, Reignolde's father, said that since the death he and his family had undergone a series of medical tests to see if there was anything genetically linked to his son's death.

His wife committed suicide three years ago after suffering clinical depression.

Oxfordshire Coroner, Mr Nicholas Gardiner, said: "Despite extensive efforts nothing reasonable has been found to explain this death. He seems to have been a normal, fit, young man at the University of Oxford".

He said that there was no suspicion surrounding the death and recorded a verdict of death by natural causes. Da