London teen died after posting material online about suicide

An inquest has been told a 'very able' 13-year-old boy died in the River Thames after posting material about suicide online during lockdown.

In April 2021, Zaheid Ali got off the bus on his way to school and jumped into the water from Tower Bridge.

One witness swam into the water in a bid to save him but only his school jacket and bag, which contained a suicide note, were found.

The note contained lyrics from a Japanese song which tells the story of a 14-year-old girl who kills herself.

His body was found in the rover eight days later near a pub in Wapping in east London after an intensive search by police on foot, helicopters and lifeboats.

Inner South London Coroners Court heard Zaheid had also followed someone in the US who had taken their own life, posted a "countdown" to his suicide on YouTube, and written on Twitter about his desire to kill himself.

A WhatsApp exchange with school friends from March 2021, which was found after he died, revealed he said "I hate life at the moment and kind of want to give up", among other similar messages.

His behaviour had appeared normal

His father Mumen Ali told the hearing he was "baffled" by what had happened to his son - who was born prematurely and suffered from a digestive disorder called internal malabsorption - as his behaviour had appeared normal.

Mr Ali said his son had become "glued to his phone" and "stuck in his bedroom" in the Easter holidays before he killed himself, but his parents did not think his behaviour was unusual.

He added: "We put it down to his hormones changing from being a boy to being a man."

His father also said he believed his son was worried about Islamophobia after a shooting at a mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand, in March 2019 which killed 51 people.

Una Sookun, vice-principal of the Ark Globe Academy in Elephant and Castle, south London, where Zaheid was a Year 8 pupil, told the court he was "academically very able" but "quiet" with a "very small friendship group".

He "appeared to enjoy studying" in Year 7 but when lockdown began, he started to struggle and did not engage as well with his schoolwork.

When schools closed again between January and March 2021, he was allowed to be one of a small group of pupils who could carry on attending classes in person but he did not go initially because of concerns about catching coronavirus on the bus.

"It has been a massive learning for many of the students about raising that alarm straight away."

In September 2020 a "small concern" was raised when he posted religious messages in a school chat forum.

Two months later, in a similar chat room, he "called for people to die" and said he should never have been born, which did "raise some concern" but was "nothing particularly out of the ordinary", Ms Sookun told the inquest.

On January 25 2021 he emailed his tutor saying he was struggling to wake up at 8am even though he had tried to.

Ms Sookun said of the WhatsApp messages: "It has been a massive learning for many of the students about raising that alarm straight away."

Recording a conclusion of suicide, assistant coroner Dr Julian Morris offered his "very sincere" and "deepest" condolences to the family.

He added: "The difficulty for all of us, and especially for you, is not being able perhaps to understand his personal and private thoughts and reasons as to why he did what he did.

"We may never know those reasons. That must, I understand, provide ongoing anxiety and frustration from your perspective.

"The age of 13 is too young for anybody."

His father replied: "When he was born, I didn't think he was going to survive.

"The 13 years that he gave us, thank God for that."

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