Distraught woman claims student accommodation threw out more than £4,000 of her belongings

A ‘heartbroken’ student said she returned from a trip visiting family to find university accommodation staff had thrown out all her belongings, worth more than £4,000.

Laoise Murphy was left in tears when she learned her room at Ardcairn House in Dublin had been cleared out, even though there were still three days left on her tenancy.

The 20-year-old, from Stockport, said her MacBook, £4,000 worth of clothes, gifts from family, a £600 vacuum cleaner, and all her forms of identification were gone.

She said there were two full skips outside the building, and believes her things could be in there. But staff at Yugo, which owns the property and many others across the UK, apparently told her they’d searched the skips and didn’t find anything belonging to her.

The 20-year-old first-year student said the ordeal had been so ‘traumatic’ she’s considering leaving Dublin to study in Manchester.

Laoise said she paid to stay at the accommodation until June 16 but she returned from a 12-day trip visiting family in Wexford, Republic of Ireland, on June 13.

Without a valid ID, she’s unable to return home to England and has been left with only two tops and two shirts from an overnight bag she took on her trip.

She said she’s anxious about her identity being stolen and heartbroken that sentimental items – such as jewellery and a Burberry coat from her grandma – will probably never be seen again.

Laoise believes some resident’s contracts ended on June 2, so her room could have been mistaken for one that was vacant and needed to be cleaned.

But she’s baffled at why she wasn’t contacted and says it’s ‘negligent’ that anyone could think so many expensive and personal belongings would be left behind.

Yugo said it had investigated the incident but declined to state what the outcome was or whether it had removed the items, but said it was in contact with Laoise to ‘support her’.

Meanwhile, police confirmed it wasn’t treating the matter as criminal.

Laoise said: “I don’t think I’ve fully processed that I’ll never get anything back.

“Every single thing I own and have worked for was in that room. I only took an overnight bag back to Wexford, so I have two skirts and two tops.

“When I came back I’d forgotten my fob so one of the staff took me into my room and I just started sobbing. It was totally cleared out. It had been cleaned and everything.

“When I walked out of the building I saw two industrial-sized skips full to the brim of other people’s duvets and suitcases. That’s when I realised they’d probably put them in the skip.

“I’m heartbroken. It sounds shallow because it’s just material things but I’m just left with nothing. It’s my identity.

“I’m anxious about my ID and identity theft. I feel violated that they were in my room. There was personal stuff in there and they clearly went through it all to throw it out.

“They must have thought my room was one of the rooms that they wanted to clear out. But it’s hard to believe that they wouldn’t contact me to double-check.

“I usually get my medication from the NHS but because I don’t have an ID I can’t get the ferry over to my mum. I’m stuck in Ireland.

“I don’t want to go back to Dublin after this. I’m a bit traumatised so I’ll most likely drop out and go back to Manchester to go to a uni in the UK.”

Laoise lived in a student house for most of the academic year but paid around £850 to move into an en-suite room at Yugo’s Ardcairn House in April as she thought it would be safer.

The business student said young staff at the accommodation told her they’d find her belongings but after an hour they couldn’t so they asked her to make a list of everything that was in there.

She has tried to track her MacBook using Apple’s tracking software but because it could have been up to two weeks since it was removed from her room there’s now no signal from it.

The student claims Yugo told her staff were instructed to search through the skips to find her belongings but they couldn’t find any of the four suitcases she listed as the largest items.

However, she’s baffled by how staff didn’t realise she hadn’t moved out given the amount of belongings in the room.

Laoise said: “How did the amount of stuff I had in the room not raise a red flag?

“It’s super hard to believe that they’d go into that room and think it’s vacant. It was clearly occupied.

“I’d already started packing up some of my stuff so you could hardly walk in, but most of it was loose and put away.

“I think it’s [terrible] that they didn’t check if I was still there or not. I don’t know why they didn’t say that they thought it didn’t look right.

“I’d like my stuff to be replaced. I feel helpless.

“I think there should be stricter laws on what people running student accommodation can do.”

Her TikTok showing images of the skip has been viewed more than 1.6 million times with users stunned by the clothes’ disappearance.

One commented: “Don’t let this go!”

Another said: “My jaw dropped at the MacBook.”

A spokesperson for Yugo said: “Following an investigation into the incident at Ardcairn House, we are now liaising with the resident on next steps and how we can best support her.”

Laoise reported the incident to the Irish police, The Garda Síochána, who say it’s currently a civil matter and not a criminal one.

A police spokesperson said: “Garda received a report on a matter which occurred in the Grangegorman area of Dublin on 13th June 2023.

“The Garda Síochána has no involvement in what appears to be a civil matter, at this time.”