London teen who experienced 'bullying behaviour' died by suicide

A coroner's ruled a 14-year-old girl from north west London who experienced "bullying behaviour" died by suicide.

Mia Janin was found dead at her home in Harrow in March 2021 - one day after asking her parents about moving school.

The inquest heard one of Mia's TikTok videos had been shared in a group and made fun of, however the coroner did not say bullying led to her death.

North London area coroner Tony Murphy, sitting at Barnet Coroner's Court, concluded that Mia "took her life while still a child and while still in the process of maturing into adulthood".

Mr Murphy said Mia was last seen alive at about 10pm on March 11 2021 when she said goodnight to her parents in their family home.

She was found hanged by her parents at about 6.50am the next day. Two undated letters in Mia's handwriting were found on her bed addressed to "her loving family and friends", which "explained that Mia decided to end her life".

Mr Murphy added before his conclusion that Mia had "close friends, including at her secondary school, but she also experienced bullying from some male students".

He added that neither Mia's family nor teachers were aware of this before her death.

Mr Murphy said: "Mia's secondary school has introduced systemic changes following her death.

"Mia is much missed by her loving family, caring friends and the wider community."

The area coroner said he would let the legal representatives know at a later time if he would be issuing a prevention of future deaths report.

Her father, Mariano Janin, previously said he believed his daughter was cyber-bullied by other pupils at JFS.

Statements given by friends of Mia to the Metropolitan Police following her death were read out to the inquest, in which they said Mia was bullied by other pupils at the school, and that their friendship group was nicknamed the "suicide squad" in the months leading up to her death.

They said that one of Mia's TikToks was shared to a Snapchat group chat run by male pupils at JFS, where they made fun of her.

One child said the boys used the group chat to share nude photos of girls.

Rabbi Howard Cohen, former deputy headteacher 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, and he was made aware of a boys WhatsApp group where members were rating the "attractiveness" of female pupils.

But there was no reason to believe the groups related to Mia, Rabbi Cohen said.

The deputy headteacher told the inquest he had held a meeting with members of one of the group chats who then agreed to disband it.

The inquest heard that his wife Marisa, who has since died, told Mia she could be homeschooled for the rest of the school year, and that they would look into moving her to a new school after.

Mia then went to bed. Hours later, she was dead.

The area coroner previously said there was no evidence that any images or videos involving Mia had been shared in the group chat, except for the TikTok.

Speaking outside court Mia's father Mariano said lessons need to be learned.

"My daughter experienced prolonged and sustained bullying in various way in person and online, in a way it's a relief this has now been recognised. However there needs to be accountability, another family cannot live what I have lived.

I think we need to put some limit on the access of kids on the internet and how can we collect the data if something like this has happened.

I think we have a big challenge ahead. We have a lot of good things from technology and the internet but we need to create a safe environment for our kids.

Personally I don't support bans, we need to teach our kids how to use technology, I don't think bans are a good thing. We need to learn from our mistakes in order to avoid this happening again.

Mia, she was fantastic, she was very bubbly, good sense of humour, she was beautiful, she was very kind, very creative, that was Mia."

For mental health support, contact the Samaritans on 116 123, email them at jo@samaritans.org, or visit samaritans.org.

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