A MUSIC student found dead in her bed at Bournemouth University had put off seeking treatment for an ear infection because she could not afford a prescription, it has been claimed.

Talented first year student Victoria Hills, 20, had asked friends for painkillers before deciding to have an early night.

But she was later found dead in her bed at Cranborne House in St Paul’s Place.

It has been reported that Victoria, who was brought up in Chichester, West Sussex may have died from sepsis although no official cause of death has yet been recorded and an inquest into her death has yet to open.

Victoria was a first year Music and Sound Production student. She is thought to have died in the early hours of Sunday February 4 but her body was not discovered until Tuesday February 6 because most of her flatmates had gone home for the weekend.

It has been claimed that Victoria did not visit the doctor because she could not afford the £8.60 prescription charge as her student loan had not come through.

Victoria’s mother, Tracey Hills, has now urged students who have infections not to put off seeing a doctor, no matter how small their ailment may seem.

She told a national newspaper: “Victoria was so full of life. She had been in her church choir for 11 years and always played in school concerts. Music was everything to her.

“She started getting colds from when she moved to uni. She always caught them and everyone had fresher’s flu and this carried on the whole first term.

“At some point she thought she had an ear infection, but she said there was no point going to the doctor because she couldn’t afford a prescription.”

A spokesman for Bournemouth University said: ‘We are saddened by the death of one of our students, Victoria Hills. Our thoughts are with her family and friends at this difficult time.”

A Dorset Police spokesman said there are not believed to be any suspicious circumstances.