Mia Janin: Schoolboys made fun of girl before her death

Mia Janin died after her first day back at school after the Covid restrictions were lifted

Schoolboys allegedly used a group chat to make fun of a 14-year-old fellow pupil who is believed to have killed herself, an inquest has heard.

Mia Janin, a pupil at the Jewish Free School (JFS) in Kenton, north-west London, was found dead at her family home in Harrow in March 2021.

Her father, Mariano Janin, has said he believes she was cyber-bullied.

Statements given by Mia's friends to the Met Police following her death were read to the inquest.

Barnet Coroner's Court heard evidence that Mia was bullied at school and their friendship group was nicknamed the "suicide squad" in the months leading up to her death.

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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.

Mariano Janin believes Mia was bullied via a chat group

The child added: "They took screenshots of girls' faces on social media and made fun of them. They shared a video of Mia's TikTok and made fun of her."

They said the boys also photoshopped girls' faces onto the bodies of pornography performers.

The child said that they had a conversation with Mia the day before she died, when Mia asked: "If you died would people care about you the next day?"

"We laughed it off, that was all she said, it was just in normal conversation," the child said.

Another child said that the TikTok video had been posted by Mia the night before she returned to school after the end of Covid restrictions.

The child said that Mia had received lots of negative comments on the TikTok video from other pupils at JFS.

"Mia said she was fine, but I don't think that she was fine," she said.

Mr Janin told the inquest that his daughter asked if she could move school after coming home after her first day back.

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.

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

The inquest heard that Rabbi Cohen, former deputy headteacher at JFS, told the boys to close down the group after Mia's death.

JFS's position is that the school was not aware of the existence of the group chat before Mia's death.

If you or someone you know have been affected by the issues raised in this article, help can be found at the BBC's Action Line.

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