Mia Janin took own life after bullying - inquest

An inquest has concluded that north London schoolgirl Mia Janin took her own life after being bullied by boys at her school.

Coroner Tony Murphy found the 14-year-old died "while still a child and while still in the process of maturing into adulthood”.

While the inquest was taking place, Mia's family released a WhatsApp voice note to BBC London to highlight her sheer despair after months of relentless bullying from peers at the Jewish Free School (JFS) in Kenton.

Mia sent the voice note to a friend on 10th March 2021, the night before she returned to school.

In it, she said: "Tomorrow’s going to be a rough day, I’m taking deep breaths in and out. I’m currently mentally preparing myself to get bullied tomorrow."

Speaking after the conclusion of the inquest at Barnet Coroner's Court, her father Mariano Janin said he had been seeking answers about what happened to Mia for almost three years.

"My daughter experienced prolonged and sustained bullying in various ways in person and online," he said.

"In a way it’s a relief this has now been recognised, however there does need to be accountability. Another family cannot live what I have lived."

Mr Janin added: "We need to put some limits on the access of the kids on the internet and how we can recollect the data if something like this has happened.

"We need to create a safe environment for our kids."

Mia, who was in Year 10, had a small, tight-knit group of friends at JFS, where she had been a pupil for three years.

Rabbi Howard Cohen, former deputy head teacher at JFS, told the inquest that after Mia’s death there was “some talk around the school” of what he described as “boys-only bravado groups” sharing images of girls.

He also said he was made aware of a boys’ WhatsApp group in which members were rating the “attractiveness” of female pupils.

He told the inquest he held a meeting with members of one of the group chats, who then agreed to disband it.

Mr Janin said "school is not only for the curriculum" but it needs to promote "clear values" in order to respect one another and have a better society.

"I’m not a specialist," he said. "I have experience with what’s happened to Mia.

"I think the school has to be more vigilant, they need more young people to understand all this social media, all this technology."

He added: "I’m a victim of this failing system. We need to learn from our mistakes in order to avoid this happening again."

Mia was born in 2006 and was a huge fan of art, cheerleading and looking after her dog, Lola.

She loved dressing up and make up. Her friends described her as someone who was slightly unusual and offbeat, who preferred hanging out with small groups of people who knew her well.

Yasmin Bliss first met Mia at the age of 10 and used to go cheerleading with her.

She recalls Mia as "being like no-one else I know. She lit up every room."

The inquest heard Mia's parents had several times raised concerns with JFS staff that Mia was feeling lonely and isolated.

Yet Mr Janin said neither he nor his wife had any idea of the true extent of what his daughter had been going through.

The day after Mia returned to school after lockdown was lifted, Mia's mother Marisa discovered her lifeless body in her bathroom at the family home in Harrow.

Mr Janin said: "Suddenly I heard a horrible scream from my wife. This time everything stopped for me and my wife. Life changed completely."

In statements to the inquest, Mia’s friends said their JFS friendship group was nicknamed the "suicide squad" in the months before Mia's death.

They also told police one of Mia’s TikTok videos was shared to a Snapchat group, created by male pupils at JFS, where they mocked her.

Another child reported the boys used the group chat to share faked nude photos of the girls.

"Kids were manipulating images of girls. And Mia was one of them. And took it very badly," Mr Janin said.

Coroner Mr Murphy said at the inquest there was no evidence images or video about Mia were circulated in the group, except for that TikTok video.

JFS has said it only knew about the group after Mia's death. When Mia died in 2021, she was the third child suicide at the school in five years.

Until now, none of Mia's friends from JFS has spoken out publicly about the bullying that took place at the school when Mia was there.

Martha Gentely, who has since left the school, was Mia's best friend at JFS. She recalls that their small friendship group was picked on at the time, but said what happened to Mia "was to a different extent".

"When we’d speak about it, it was all our experiences. Mia was very headstrong: 'I don’t care'.”

Ms Gentely, who describes the bullying as "relentless", says she was also harassed in the street by people who would be "making fun” and that she received constant abuse on social media.

At the inquest, Mr Murphy said Mia had had "close friends, including at her secondary school, but she also experienced bullying from some male students”. He said Mia's teachers had not been aware of this bullying.

Current JFS head teacher David Moody said changes had been made.

"We will continue to do everything we can to embed all of the changes that have been put in place over the last three years," Dr Moody said.

"Mia remains a hugely missed member of our school community and our thoughts continue to be with the family."

The inquest had sought to determine Mia’s wellbeing; her interactions with students and staff at JFS and the support she received relating to that; and what happened in the two days before her death.

The school told a pre-inquest review it accepted that "it was Mia’s experience that she was being bullied”.

Dr Moody previously told the BBC: "Like the family, the school is waiting for the findings of the external investigations to be published and we hope that the publication will be as soon as possible."

He added Ofsted inspectors were "pleased with the sustained changes" enacted by both governors and the new leadership team.

In its most recent inspection in April, JFS was rated "Good" across the board by Ofsted, as revealed in the inspection report, which was published last week. It had previously been rated "Inadequate".

The school has been approached for further comment. The coroner said he would let the legal representatives know at a later time if he would be issuing a prevention of future deaths report.

Mr Janin said he spends his days trying to find answers about the circumstances that led up to Mia's death, to piece together clues - and that includes social media.

He and numerous charities have called for social media firms to be required by law to hand over data that could help parents in his position find answers.

The Online Safety Act, which become law in October, aims to give coroners and bereaved parents easier access to social media data.

Four months after Mia's death, Mr Janin experienced another tragedy: his wife and Mia's mother, Marisa, died after an aneurysm and contracting leukaemia.

"I’m still alive, physically, I have a heartbeat - but in other ways, my life is gone," he says.

"I will never see my beautiful daughter grow up. I will never meet her kids, her grandchildren. There’s no future for me, there’s no future."

If you've been affected by the issues raised in this report, the BBC Action Line has a list of organisations that may be able to help.

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