RUMOURS of student Katherine Langford’s death were premature – but her relieved parents were still unhappy to receive a letter of condolence.

Due to a mistake by a member of staff at Taunton’s Somerset College, Student Finance was incorrectly informed that Katherine had died.

And to make things worse, the Wellington Road college also incorrectly reported that she had quit her course last March, although she actually went on to complete the first year in June.

“My parents were shocked and appalled to receive the letter telling them I was dead,” said Katherine.

“And as if that wasn’t enough, Student Finance also requested more than £800 back because they thought I’d left the course early.

“I’m extremely annoyed by the mistake and the way we’ve been treated by Somerset College.”

A Somerset College spokeswoman said the letter of condolence was due to “human error” after a member of staff mistakenly ticked the wrong box on a drop down menu.

She added: “The college apologised profusely at the time to the student and family and also asked the external funding organisation to alter the system to prevent such an error occurring again.”

Katherine and five other students who completed the first year of an applied psychology degree last summer have criticised Somerset College for the way they ran the course and enrolled at Plymouth University.