The family of the Aberdeen University student who killed herself in 2016 after a campaign of abuse by her former boyfriend have confirmed they are suing Angus Milligan.
Emily Drouet, 18, took her own life in her halls of residence in Aberdeen, with fellow first-year student Milligan subsequently admitted acting in a threatening, abusive and violent manner.
That led to him being sentenced to 12 months’ supervision and ordered to carry out 180 hours – later reduced to 120 hours – of unpaid work as part of a community payback order.
However, her mother, Fiona, believes that punishment did not reflect the scale of the offences carried out by Milligan, who choked and slapped Miss Drouet repeatedly just a week before her death and sent her a string of obscene and abusive text messages.
She has subsequently campaigned for greater awareness of violence against students and launched the Emilytest charity, which calls on universities and colleges to introduce better training for staff to help them spot victims of abuse.
Mrs Drouet told the Press and Journal she was pleased with the progress made so far, but confirmed she was determined to ‘get justice for Emily’ from Milligan, 23, who is now at Oxford Brookes University.
She said: “This has cast a long cloud over all of us and we do not believe Emily got justice from the courts in 2017.
“Our daughter had her life taken away and yet he is carrying on unimpeded, as if nothing has happened.
“We hope this will show others that the controlling and violent behaviour he exhibited towards Emily should have no place in our society.
“We believe we have to continue pursuing the matter in other ways in order to make him realise the devastation his actions have caused.
“This isn’t about money, it is about holding people accountable for their actions.
“It’s about making somebody understand there are consequences when they bully others and they shouldn’t just be allowed to walk away from these actions.
“Countless lives are lost as a consequence of domestic abuse and perpetrators need to accept responsibility for those lost lives.”
Milligan has never spoken publicly about the events at Aberdeen University.
But Mrs Drouet and her family – her husband Germain, 43, and their children, Rachel, 16,and Calvin, 13 – want to spare others the ‘ordeal’ they have experienced.
For confidential support, call The Samaritans on 116 123, or visit www.samaritans. org.