Just hours before his death on Friday afternoon (local time), former University of Cambridge (UC) professor Jason Arday sent his friend voice notes saying that he "couldn't go on".
Prof Arday, who resigned last week after a plagiarism row, was pronounced dead after emergency services found him unresponsive at a place in Daley Thomson Way in London's Battersea, at about 3 PM on Friday.
The Metropolitan Police, which is probing the 41-year-old's death, has said that they are treating it as unexpected, but not suspicious.
According to Sir Simon Baron-Cohen, UC professor and Autism Research Centre director, he spoke to certain people with voice notes about the intense scrutiny he faced around the plagiarism case and the ridicule that came with it.
"He was being subjected to relentless scrutiny, including ridicule, discrediting absolutely every detail of his life, and he wasn’t coping with the loss of his career, the loss of his reputation, and he felt he couldn’t go on," he told BBC Radio 4, saying that he had spoken to Arday on the morning of his death.
Calling him a "vulnerable" person, who had been diagnosed with autism and language issues since childhood, Sir Simon declared that Arday had been “bombarded by every media outlet” and used as a “lightning rod” to examine diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies.
He also spoke of how claims by another academic, Nathan Cofnas—who reportedly defined himself as a "race realist"—had played a major role in the media trial faced by Cambridge's youngest Black professor.
This comes despite the Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) later confirming that his PhD thesis and other research were not plagiarised. Despite this, he was being subjected to intense scrutiny over whether he ran 600 miles in six days and that whether he ran £5.5 million for charity.
Arday had also described to a friend about feeling "destroyed", and had told him that his travel visa to the US had been revoked.
UK PM Andy Burham has called the death a "moment of reflection", adding that it was a "tragedy on so many levels".
(If you are having suicidal thoughts, or are worried about a friend or need emotional support, someone is always there to listen. Call Sneha Foundation - 04424640050 (available 24x7) or iCall, the Tata Institute of Social Sciences' helpline - 02225521111, which is available Monday to Saturday from 8 AM to 10 PM.)
