Campus bully whose student girlfriend took own life given place at an Oxford university
Fury as banned thug allowed to resume studies
A STUDENT who assaulted his teenage girlfriend before she took her own life was offered a place at another university shortly after being convicted.
Angus Milligan, 22, escaped being jailed for his physical and mental abuse of first-year law student Emily Drouet – but was expelled from Aberdeen University after admitting his guilt.
Now it has emerged that only weeks later he was offered a place at Oxford Brookes University, where he has recently completed his first year of study.
Recent photographs of Milligan, who has never apologised to his victim’s family, show him drinking and partying with young women at an end-of-term student event.
Miss Drouet’s mother Fiona, who is spearheading a nationwide campaign to tackle domestic violence in colleges and universities, said she was appalled and has called on the university to consider Milligan’s position.
Mrs Drouet, 46, said: ‘Seeing him back in such an environment brings a feeling of horror to us as a family. It’s extremely distressing and I feel overwhelming sadness that all the work we’re doing on domestic and gender-based violence has apparently been disregarded here.
‘He’s a dangerous individual, in my opinion – and in the opinion of the court.
‘This is him being repositioned in a very similar environment once again. He’s back at a university, he’s on campus and he’s in with freshers.
‘That’s exactly where he committed his crimes before. I cannot understand why a university would take the risk. It suggests student safety and student welfare is not coming first – and that really upsets me.’
Oxford Brookes University said it was unable to comment on individual students, although it is understood it is aware of Milligan’s previous conviction. The university refused to say if the former pupil of Fettes College, Edinburgh, was living in one of its halls of residence.
It was at Aberdeen’s Hillhead hall of residence in September 2015 that Milligan first met 18year-old Miss Drouet, from Glasgow. But within weeks the relationship turned violent and she was regularly attacked and verbally abused. Miss Drouet took her own life in March 2016.
In July last year Milligan pleaded guilty at Aberdeen Sheriff Court to assaulting Miss Drouet, threatening her and sending indecent, obscene and menacing texts. The psychology student admitted choking his girlfriend, pushing her against a desk and slapping her face eight days before her death.
Sentencing him to 180 hours of community service, Sheriff Malcolm Garden condemned Milligan’s ‘controlling and ultimately violent’ approach to their relationship but said he was powerless to jail him. Milligan is currently in the last month of a year-long supervision order.
Mrs Drouet has vowed to extend her campaign to tackle genderbased violence on campuses, already backed with £396,000 of Scottish Government cash, to cover England and Wales.
She called on Oxford Brookes to say what steps it had taken independently to assess risks posed by Milligan. She said: ‘If something were to happen, it would be devastating. There’s a lack of understanding over his crimes and how damaging they are.
‘I cannot understand why this institution would take the risk by letting him back in among such an age group.
‘Placing him with younger female students is an aggravating factor which would alarm me greatly. Has there been a full risk assessment done? It’s an important question, as the university must have a duty of care to other students.
‘His behaviour after we lost Emily was terrible. There was never any remorse shown. I would ask he is removed until there are full professional assessments done on him and to look at the risks posed to the safety and welfare of other students on that campus.’
Mrs Drouet said her family still found life painful two years after her daughter’s death: ‘We have tried to turn our loss into positive change to ensure no other family goes through what we did. So it is very sad to see that lessons still are not being learned and that girls still seem to be put at risk.’
An Oxford Brookes spokesman said: ‘As part of its duty of care, the university asks applicants for information about any relevant criminal convictions as part of the admissions process.
‘The application will be judged through normal processes and, if the recommendation is to offer a place, it will be assessed by experienced staff in the light of the declared conviction.’
‘Extremely distressing’