We were all ready with cakes and presents..there was no indication until I opened the door. It was supposed to be the happiest day ever but it turned into the worst

A SHATTERED mum has described the moment she discovered her son dead as the family prepared to leave for his graduation after a university wrongly told him he had failed his degree.

- BY SALLY HIND

Ethan Brown, 23, took his own life in December last year - three months after Glasgow University told him in error that he did not have the necessary credits to graduate.

A month after his death, his devastated family, from Coatbridge Lanarkshire, discovered the geography student had been given the wrong grade and actually achieved a 2:1 honours degree.

Mum Tracy Scott has accused the university of "repeated incompetence" in the months before her son's death, saying they also failed to act after he reported mental health problems.

University chiefs apologised for the "tragic error" yesterday.

Describing the moment she found her son, Tracy told the Record: "I was up, dressed, ready for his graduation. The night before there was no indication - he knew the arrangements. I actually thought, 'Has he slept in?"

"We were all ready with cakes and presents. There was nothing until I opened the door.

"If he'd turned around and said he was not graduating tomorrow, it would have been OK. But it's obviously been too much for him. If we'd asked the question... that's what's a struggle for the family, to think that he thought his hands were tied and there was no way back.

"It just turned into the worst day ever and it was supposed to be the happiest.

"He had just said, 'See you in the morning."