The death of former Cambridge professor Jason Arday has been described as a “tragedy” by British Prime Minister Andy Burnham, who said it should prompt a period of “reflection”.
Prof Arday, who stepped down amid a plagiarism controversy, was pronounced dead after emergency services were called yesterday to an address in Battersea, south London. Officers had received reports that a man was unresponsive inside a property.
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Hours earlier, Prof Arday had told a friend he “couldn’t go on” as scrutiny of his academic career intensified.
Speaking to reporters during a visit to Cornwall, Mr Burnham said: “It’s a tragedy on so many levels, but particularly just for everybody who knew Jason, his family obviously, his friends. We think of them today.
“A really sad, sad and sorry state of affairs and I think we all today think of Jason, his contribution, and his family and friends.”
The Metropolitan Police said the death was being treated as unexpected, but was not believed to be suspicious.
Simon Baron-Cohen, a University of Cambridge professor and director of its Autism Research Centre, said he had spoken to Prof Arday yesterday morning.
Appearing on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Prof Baron-Cohen said Prof Arday had been facing “relentless scrutiny”, including ridicule and attempts to discredit “absolutely every detail of his life”. He said his former colleague had struggled with the loss of his career and reputation and “felt he couldn’t go on”.
“He used those words in voice notes,” he added.
Prof Arday, a professor of sociology of education who became Cambridge’s youngest black professor in 2023, resigned after a series of media reports alleged that he had plagiarised his PhD thesis, completed at Liverpool John Moores University, along with other research.
An investigation by Liverpool John Moores University cleared Prof Arday of wrongdoing.
In a statement released by his publisher, Simon & Schuster UK, Prof Arday’s family said he had endured “a campaign of sustained abuse” for more than three years after accepting the Cambridge professorship from people determined to undermine him.
“The campaign of misinformation was too much for Jason, who was a gentle man and who always wanted to see the best in everyone,” the family said.
