Gavin Britton was found dead in the city centre of Exeter, Devon, on Tuesday morning, still wearing the black wig and fancy dress he had donned for a night out with a group of students on Sunday.

A post-mortem examination has yet to be held, but a police source said that his death was “alcohol-related” rather than natural causes. The death was described as “not suspicious”.

Mr Britton, who grew up in Hampshire, was eight weeks into the first year of a business and economics course.

His MySpace web page contains five photographs of him drinking shots or swigging from a wine bottle. He gave his motto as: “If you’re not living on the edge, you’re taking up too much space.” Several of the 88 friends who had left messages on the site mentioned drinking. One described it as “heavenly boozedom”.

His body was found on a grass bank outside an arts centre by a worker arriving at the nearby Royal Albert Memorial Museum. Tests were being carried out by pathologists to ascertain how much alcohol was in his bloodstream.

His parents were travelling from their home in Hampshire to identify the body. An inquest is expected to be opened and adjourned.

One said: “Most of us enjoy a drink. You could call it a bit of a binge-drinking culture, but I don’t think we are any different from other people our age. Perhaps we go for shorts and shots more than students did in the past, but it’s just a bit of fun.”

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