A charitable fund has been launched in memory of tragic student Jane Khalaf.

The Jane Khalaf Fund was announced to hundreds of friends and family who packed out Huddersfield Town Hall’s main concert room on Sunday night to commemorate the Shelley teen on what would have been her 20th birthday.

It has been set up in the aftermath of her tragic death last November while visiting Cologne in Germany. Those who knew her believe her death was caused by drink spiking.

Now those involved with the fund hope to help raise awareness of the problem and to push for more to be done to tackle it.

Brian Cross, who chairs the fund, said: “Jane’s father, Khalil, asked how could we both celebrate Jane’s life and provide a lasting legacy in her name.

“The town hall event celebrated her life and now we can continue to build her legacy through the fund.

“By working with our partners Lifeline and The Base we will be able to offer awards to young people to come up with creative ideas to raise awareness about the dangers of drink spiking.

“We’ve already raised £875 for it and hope to eventually turn it into an established charity.”

Khalil, added: “We hope that through this people will be made aware of drink spiking and that it will also enable us to keep Jane’s memory alive.

“We’d like to express our thanks to the town hall staff for allowing us to put on such a big event here where we could launch the fund.”

Several other speakers spoke at the poignant event, including Huddersfield MP Barry Sheerman, on his final day in office before the election campaign, and performances were given by friends and Holmfirth band LewRey.

All were united in continuing to put pressure on Cologne’s public prosecution office to do more, after opening an investigation into Jane’s death.

To date, there are still no results from blood tests taken shortly after her death and the city’s police have not made any arrests in connection with her shock death.

Jane’s mum, Rojin, who lives with her family at Parkwood Close in Shelley, said: “The event was obviously incredibly emotional for all who were there.

“There is still so much frustration present in us all due to the lack of information and communication from the prosecutor or the police.

“We have been told that the case will take a long time to be solved due to Jane being registered as a Swedish national but I just don’t think that that should be the case.

“Sweden is in the EU just like the UK so why is it taking so long for us to get answers?"