Web scam drove student to suicide

An inquest has been told how a university student killed herself after falling victim to an internet scam.

Jaiyue Wang, 23, gave more than £6,000 in the belief she had won half a million pounds in a lottery after being contacted over the internet.

She arrived in Britain last summer from Hainan in China to study at the University of Nottingham.

Recording a suicide verdict, Nottingham coroner Dr Nigel Chapman said her death, in April, was a tragedy.

Vulnerable woman

He said: "A young university student - doesn't speak very much English, her parents don't speak English - been coming across to one of the great universities but has taken her own life because of a scam from Nigeria."

Ms Wang was found hanged at her home in Beeston last month.

Jonathan Ray, a University of Nottingham spokesman, said: "Obviously anybody who hears this story will just feel that it's a despicable exploitation of a vulnerable person whatever their status or location in life.

"It's just deeply sad that the young woman was so badly hit by what happened to her just before Christmas."