A bullying student who drove his teenage girlfriend to suicide after assaulting her days before she took her own life has been given a place at an Oxford university.
Angus Milligan escaped a jail term and was sentenced to 12 months’ supervision last year for assaulting Emily Drouet, 18, while they were students at Aberdeen University. The university expelled him after his conviction.
But just weeks later he was awarded a place at Oxford Brookes University, reports theSunday Mail.
Pictures show Mr Milligan drinking and partying at an end-of-year festival, leaving Emily’s heartbroken mother appalled.
Emily Drouet, 18, took her own life just eight days after Angus Milligan assaulted her on campus at Aberdeen University. He was seen on CCTV leaving her room minutes before she killed herself
Angus Milligan was expelled from Aberdeen University for the assault on campus, but is now studying at Oxford Brookes. Miss Drouet’s mother Fiona said: ‘Seeing him back in such an environment brings a feeling of horror to us as a family’
Fiona Drouet, 46, told the Sunday Mail: ‘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.’
Miss Drouet took her own life eight days after Mr Milligan turned up at her student halls of residence and choked her in a jealous rage. Mr Milligan was seen leaving her room just minutes before she killed herself.
Mrs Drouet added: ‘This is him being re-positioned 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.’
Mr Milligan was also ordered to carry out 180 hours of unpaid work as part of a community payback order at Aberdeen Sheriff Court in July last year.
Her parents, Fiona and Germain, said Mr Milligan had ‘preyed on Emily’s innocence and kindness’ and that their ‘naive’ daughter was subjected to weeks of verbal, physical and psychological abuse before she took her own life.
At the time of his sentencing Mrs Drouet said: ‘Over the last year we have struggled to understand why our beloved daughter Emily is no longer with us. And for the last year Angus Milligan did all he could to deny us the truth.
‘Angus Milligan has been unmasked as a vicious abuser who stole our daughter’s life. Emily was studying law because she believed in justice and wanted to make a difference. Today marks her first legal victory.
Mrs Drouet (pictured outside court with husband Germain) added: ‘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’
Mr Milligan was ordered to carry out 180 hours of unpaid work as part of a community payback order at Aberdeen Sheriff Court in July last year for the assault on Miss Drouet
‘No sentence Angus Milligan receives can reflect the destruction he has caused or bring Emily back.’
Mr Milligan, from Edinburgh, is from a distinguished family. His late grandfather, Jim Milligan, was regarded as one of Scotland’s most respected judges, while his grandmother, Betty, was a descendant of the Fife-born philanthropist Andrew Carnegie.
Since her daughter’s death, Mrs Drouet has campaigned against gender-based violence on campuses. Pictured: an injury Emily sustained at the hands of Mr Milligan
He attended three private schools in Edinburgh, including Fettes College, Tony Blair’s old school, before he enrolled at Aberdeen, where he was described by students as ‘the alpha male on the campus’.
Mrs Drouet has called on Oxford Brookes to complete a full risk assessment of Mr Milligan.
She said: ‘Placing him with younger female students is an aggravating factor and one which would alarm me greatly. Has there been a full risk assessment done here? It’s an important question, as the university must have a duty of care to their other students.’
Since her daughter’s death Mrs Drouet has campaigned against gender-based violence on campuses, with £396,000 allocated by the Scottish Government to provide advice and training for staff.
An Oxford Brookes University spokesman told the Sunday Mail: ‘We can confirm that as part of its duty of care to staff and students, 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 in the first instance and, if the recommendation is to offer the applicant a place, it will be assessed by experienced staff in the light of the declared conviction.
‘This includes risk assessments and the continued support of our well-being service where appropriate.’
The university said they were unable to comment on individual students or reveal if Mr Milligan was living in halls of residence on campus.
An Oxford Brookes University (pictured) spokesman said: ‘We can confirm that as part of its duty of care to staff and students, the university asks applicants for information about any relevant criminal convictions as part of the admissions process’