JASON ARDAY TOLD FRIEND HE WAS AFRAID TO LEAVE HOME AMID MEDIA SCRUTINY BEFORE HIS DEATH, PROFESSOR SAYS. (PHOTO).

 Jason Arday told friend he was afraid to leave home amid media scrutiny before his death, professor says

Jason Arday’s friend Simon Baron-Cohen says the professor told him shortly before his death that he was struggling with intense media scrutiny over plagiarism allegations.

Baron-Cohen, director of the Autism Research Center at the University of Cambridge, said on BBC Radio 4’s *Today* that Arday told him he was afraid to leave his home because he was being “bombarded” by the media and portrayed as a “fr@ud.”

“He really wasn’t coping,” Baron-Cohen said. “He was being subjected to relentless scrutiny, including ridicule, discrediting absolutely every detail of his life.”

Arday, 41, was found d3@d on Friday, Aug. 14, days after resigning from Cambridge amid an investigation into his academic qualifications and honorary appointments. He had made history as the university’s youngest Black professor.

Baron-Cohen said Arday’s final voice note to him was that “he couldn’t go on.”

“He was an incredibly kind and gentle and caring and generous man, but he has been portrayed in the media as a plagiarist and a liar and a fr@ud,” he said.

Professor Kehinde Andrews, who also knew Arday, told BBC Newsnight that Arday appeared “very down” after leaving Cambridge.

“He was very upset. He felt that there was no way out. He effectively wasn’t leaving the house,” Andrews said.

Arday resigned on Aug. 5, saying his time at Cambridge had been marked by what he described as “an unrelenting level of public scrutiny and personal attack.”

The university had announced an investigation earlier this month after receiving what it described as “new information about Professor Arday’s academic qualifications and honorary appointments.” Arday had previously denied the plagiarism allegations.

The Metropolitan Police said Arday’s d3@th was being treated as unexpected but was “not believed to be suspicious.” Officers are investigating and will prepare a file for the coroner.

Baron-Cohen called for the investigations into Arday’s academic work and circumstances surrounding his d3@th to continue, saying, “We need to understand how this tragedy has happened, but there has to be accountability at lots of levels.”