A 20-YEAR-OLD student suffered a cardiac arrest and was found dead in his room by a security guard.

Victor Dawodu, who studied at the University of Sussex, had not spoken to his Nigerian parents for two days, raising alarms as it was out of character.

The last message he sent was to his mother telling her he was going to bed on Thursday, February 8. His father tried contacting him from Nigeria before a lecture on the Thursday but received no response and a welfare check was carried out two days later, Brighton Coroner’s Court heard.

Security guard Richard Walker entered Victor’s East Slope accommodation and found him lying on his bed.

He performed CPR on the mechanical engineering student, but when paramedics arrived he was pronounced dead at the scene.

Coroner Gilva Tisshaw said on the balance of probabilities Victor died on the night of February 8.

His father Andy travelled from Nigeria to be at the inquest on Thursday. He told the court no other members of the family have suffered cardiac arrest so Victor’s case was unusual.

He had no serious medical issues and was only seen once by his GP at the university. A small amount of cannabis was found in his room and in his body from a post-mortem examination, though it played no part in his death.

Police checks on Victor’s phone showed he regularly spoke with friends and family via text messages and calls, but from about 9pm on the Thursday he did not respond to anybody.

Ms Tisshaw concluded he died of natural causes. She said his cause of death was cardiac arrest and though the reason was unknown, it was likely an underlying condition.

Dr Chang Wang, senior lecturer in mechanical engineering at the university, paid tribute to Victor, saying: “He was a very enthusiastic and engaged student and both staff and students here were very shocked and saddened when we learned of his passing. We were determined to remember Victor during our summer graduation in July and so we awarded him a degree and held a minute’s silence in his memory.”