Family of Black Cambridge professor accused of academic fraud claims media harassed him to death 

15.8.2026
Jason Arday the Cambridge University Professor in the centre of a plagiarism saga was found dead in a South London apartment, Friday afternoon and his family are accusing the media of pushing him to his death.
Professor Ardy, 41, Cambridge’s youngest ever Black professor, resigned from the university last week following a high-profile plagiarism scandal that raised claims of racism. His cause of death was not made known by police who discovered his unresponsive body in the apartment, he was pronounced dead at the scene.
Arday’s family criticised what they called a “campaign of harassment” that followed allegations about his academic work and personal life.
“The campaign of misinformation was too much for Jason, who was a gentle man and who always wanted to see the best in everyone,” the family said in a statement released through his publisher Simon & Schuster.
The scandal erupted after some academics and media reports accused Arday, who became Cambridge’s youngest black professor in 2023, of plagiarising parts of his doctoral thesis.
The allegations have been seized on by British right-wing newspapers and commentators, who claim that he unfairly benefited from diversity, equality and inclusion (DEI) policies.
Arday announced on August 5 that he was resigning from both his university post as a professor and as a fellow of Jesus College, shortly after they announced probes into the various accusations.
In a letter posted online, Arday said that quitting was “the only way” to end a “difficult period”, but insisted the decision should not be “mistaken for an acceptance of the narratives that have surrounded me”.
The Times and Telegraph newspapers have published several investigative articles into Arday’s academic work and personal life.
Some of his claims about his personal life, including that he once ran 30 marathons in 35 days and raised millions for charities, were also disputed.
In an interview with The Times earlier this month, Arday admitted making academic “mistakes” but said he was being wrongly “portrayed to be a liar and a fantasist and an academic fraud”.
He also alleged the “campaign to unseat me from my position” was “racially motivated”.
Arday’s memoir – “Great and Unfortunate Things” – had been published in the United States the previous day, ahead of its planned release in Britain later this month. It has also attracted scrutiny.
British ⁠Prime Minister ​Andy Burnham said on Saturday the death of ​an academic – who was the University of Cambridge’s youngest ever Black professor, but who resigned after accusations ​of ‌plagiarism – was a tragedy ⁠that needed reflection.
“It’s a tragedy on so many levels, but ‌particularly just for everybody who knew Jason, his ⁠family obviously, his friends. We think of them today,” Burnham told broadcasters.
Professor of Black studies Kehinde Andrews told Sky he had met up with Arday on Monday to offer him support and suggested he had been targeted because of the colour of his skin.
London’s mayor Sadiq Khan also called out the media, saying in a post on X that the professor had been “the victim of a pernicious public shaming that other people in his position simply wouldn’t have faced”. Agency reports