A “kind-hearted” student who failed to attend a lecture for five months took his own life at home in Kent the day before he was due to return to university.

The devastated family of Henry Jacques Duley, from Whitstable, had no idea their sporty, “loving and funny” son had been struggling with his mental health.

They have questioned why staff at Cardiff Metropolitan University did not try to contact the 20-year-old in person or over the phone when he stopped handing in assignments.

An inquest into his death held at Oakwood House in Maidstone on Thursday heard how Cardiff Met did not have systems in place that identified non-attendance as a concern - but changes are now being made.

Henry’s heartbroken parents believe the uni “missed opportunities” to notice something was wrong before he came home for the Easter holidays.

His mother Jane told KentOnline: “If we'd have known in January he'd not been doing anything since November, that would be a big sign something is not going right.

“Maybe he was out partying, not getting up, but maybe he was sitting in his room, feeling lonely.

“The awful thing is this idea of how just one little conversation could have changed how he thought.”

Henry’s parents had been in regular contact with him while he was at uni but he never let on that anything was wrong.

Mrs Duely said: “The overwhelming feeling is of guilt. Why didn't we see it?

“Did we see things that we didn't necessarily pick up on?”

Mrs Duley says Henry “always had a lot of time for people”.

“He would never hear a bad word said about someone and he was very big on family,” she said.

A football lover and Chelsea FC fanatic, Henry had played in goal for Whitstable and Kent.

After passing all his GCSEs despite significant disruption from Covid-19, the former pupil of Simon Langton Boys’ Grammar in Canterbury initially did not want to go to uni.

An apprenticeship opportunity fell through, and he dabbled in other roles including goalkeeper coaching part-time before deciding to pursue higher education.

Henry started a foundation year leading to a BSC in sports media at Cardiff Met in September 2023.

His attendance was sparse but he submitted and passed all his online assessments up until November - when he stopped engaging in studies entirely.

The inquest heard no effort was made by uni staff to reach Henry in person or over the phone, with the only communication made over emails - most of which he never opened.

He came back to Kent for the Easter holidays and was found by his mum after taking his own life at the family home in Whitstable on April 25 - the day before he was meant to return to uni.

Coroner Sarah Clarke asked Cardiff Met’s director of student services Kirsty Palmer what level of attendance is expected.

Miss Palmer said: “Students are expected to undertake 12 hours [a week] of timetabled teaching and 152 hours of individual learning per unit, but we do not keep a record of how many hours students put in in their own time.

“There is no minimum level of attendance set, and three students on Henry’s course passed the foundation year without attending any in-person seminars.”

When Henry did not attend a lecture or missed an assignment, an email was sent to his uni account. These messages included notes on how to reach out if a student was struggling.

Miss Palmer was asked what would trigger staff to attend a student’s accommodation in person.

She said: “Unite Students Accommodation (which managed Henry’s halls of residence) has welfare staff on-site and a well-being team.

“They can refer students to the university if they are particularly worried. We would then do a site visit if we were concerned for welfare.”

She added reasons for this could be things such as an extremely messy room or evidence of drug taking.

Miss Palmer was then asked about students such as Henry who do not seek help.

She said: “You’re describing my worst nightmare that there are students who can’t reach out or don’t want to reach out.

“It’s the thing that keeps me up at three in the morning.”

Previously, a lack of attendance was marked individually for each seminar, and there was nothing to flag up when many had been missed in succession.

I think there were missed opportunities to reach out to Henry…

Now, a new system called MetStat is being trialled and developed which will link up and create a joint record of attendance across lectures.

This was already in the works before Henry’s death.

Giving a conclusion of suicide, the coroner said: “Before his death, there was no indication Henry was struggling with his mental health.

“Henry’s attendance in term one was sparse, but he passed his first exams. However, from November he had little to no engagement at all in the course itself.

“We have heard evidence from the university and I’m satisfied that there has been significant consideration after Henry’s death.”

Speaking after the inquest, Henry’s parents said the uni’s policies should have been more “robust”.

Mrs Duley, 55, said: “I feel like they don't want to admit that non-attendance is a red flag. But it's the first pointer that something is not going well.

“Their policies are not robust and they rely on students putting up their hand and saying, ‘I've got mental health issues.’

“I think there were missed opportunities to reach out to Henry.”

His father Haydn Duley said: “You might have a student one morning who's a bit hungover and can't be bothered to go to that lecture today.

“But that’s different to not going to any lectures.

“You don't know what was in his head, and we never will, and that's one of the saddest things.

“I try and tell myself and Jane that he wanted to keep this from us and that's why we couldn't see.

“We wish we could have, but he made sure we didn't.”

The couple are keen to see something good come out of the tragedy and would like to help prevent similar tragedies.

Mrs Duley added: “I’d like parents to be aware that universities maybe don't have the systems to monitor young people who are struggling or not attending.

“The other thing is the importance of talking about suicide.”

The family have raised almost £8,000 for Campaign Against Living Miserably since Henry’s death.

Anyone wishing to donate can do so here.

Much of this was collected through a charity football match held by his friends and teammates at Whitstable FC on August 9.

A spokeswoman for Cardiff Met said their thoughts remain with Henry’s family and friends and that the university has “undertaken considerable reflection and learning”.

She said: “We would like to thank Henry’s family for the time they have given to support our review of his engagement with Cardiff Met.”

The spokesman said changes to the uni’s systems and processes will ensure more staff have a “fuller insight into a student’s academic engagement”.

“There are now clearer pathways for stepping up the communications activity and support to individual students who have poor engagement but have not presented with health and wellbeing issues elsewhere in our systems,” she said.

“It is so important to us that any student who is struggling reaches out.

“We encourage any student affected by the issues raised concerning Henry’s death, now or in the future, to contact us for support.”

Mental health problems can affect any of us at any time in our lives.

When life gets tough, talking can help.

Call the Samaritans 24/7 on 116 123, or chat in confidence to a trained Release the Pressure adviser, anytime, just text the word SHOUT to 85258 or call 0800 107 0160.

For details about other mental health support in Kent and Medway, including Amparo who provide support to anyone bereaved by suicide, please visit kent.gov.uk/mentalhealth