Wadham student hospitalised after drunken fall
Jonathan Letham
A first year physicist at Wadham was rushed to the Accident and Emergency department of the John Radcliffe Hospital in the early hours of Wednesday morning, after injuring himself by falling off a roof. Jonny Letham and his friends were returning from a night out at the Studio between 1.30 and 2 am when he drunkenly decided to leap from a wall onto a low roof near Wadham’s JCR. However, instead of landing on the roof he misjudged the leap and slid off, falling 2.
m to the ground. The porters and one of Letham’s friends called an ambulance, which arrived within five minutes. A witness to the incident said that Letham was “pretty much conscious” after hitting the ground: “He couldn’t respond very well, he seemed very dazed and in shock. When the paramedics arrived he tried to stand up but couldn’t. It was just a drunken thing.” Letham was taken to hospital, where he received seven stitches across his ear. He was also treated for concussion.
A University press release, issued on Wadham’s behalf, confirmed that a “first-year male undergraduate was injured following an incident at the college on Wednesday morning. “He is being treated in the John Radcliffe Hospital, where he is under observation. The College will be looking at the circumstances of this incident.” Nine of Letham’s college friends attempted to visit him on Wednesday, but all were denied access to his ward.
They were told that “he’s fine”, but that only family were permitted to visit. A staff nurse at the John Radcliffe said that Letham was moved from A&E to a hospital ward at 5:15pm on Wednesday afternoon: “He’s in a perfectly stable condition, and should be discharged within 72 hours,” she said.
10th Nov 2005