7 Jun 2010

Report into student's death reveals pub drinking

6:59 am on 7 June 2010

An internal report to the Education Ministry has revealed an Auckland college rugby team drank while unsupervised in London on the night one of its players fell to his death.

Howick College first XV player Ross Kimpton fell from his hotel window while sleepwalking, a day after his team arrived in England for a tour in 2007.

The report, by an Auckland barrister, says the team went to a pub to watch rugby for up to three hours, then returned to the hotel with beer.

Hours later, Ross Kimpton died with a blood alcohol level two and a quarter times the legal limit for driving a vehicle.

The report says the tour organisers were told by the school board that students weren't to drink on the trip, yet there are indications that team members continued to consume alcohol during the rest of the tour.