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Student leaders have warned undergraduates of unscrupulous landlords who might offer them cheap accommodation in which faulty appliances could damage their health, or even take their lives. The National Union of Students warned in particular of carbon monoxide poisoning from defective gas appliances, which has killed a number of students recently. Students moving into new "digs" should ensure that landlords produce a certificate proving that all gas appliances had been tested, it said.

In December, a 19-year-old Durham University student, Anne Brennan, died when she was poisoned by carbon monoxide from a faulty gas water heater in private lodgings. A month later, two other students died in similar circumstances in Walsall - bringing the total to nine deaths in four years.