A 14-year-old girl who is believed to have killed herself was allegedly made fun of in a group chat by boys at her school, an inquest has heard.
Mia Janin, a year 10 pupil at the Jewish free school (JFS) in Kenton, north-west London, was found dead at her family home in Harrow on 12 March 2021.
Her father, Mariano Janin, has said he believes she was cyber-bullied by other pupils at JFS.
Mia’s friends said in statements made to police after her death, and read out at Barnet coroner’s court, that she 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.
One of Mia’s TikToks was shared to a Snapchat group chat run by male pupils at JFS, where they made fun of her, the statement said.
One child said the boys used the group chat to share nude photos of girls. “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,” the child added.
The child said the boys also Photoshopped girls’ faces on to the bodies of pornography performers. “They used girls faces on porn stars’ bodies to upset us.”
The child also said they had a conversation with Mia the day before she died and that 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 the TikTok video had been posted by Mia the night before she returned to school after the end of Covid restrictions.
Police believe the TikTok was posted on 10 March, as she returned to school on 11 March.
The child said that Mia had received lots of negative comments on the video from other pupils at JFS. “Mia said she was fine, but I don’t think that she was fine,” she said.
Mia’s father told the inquest his daughter asked if she could move school after coming home on 11 March.
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 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 Howard 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.
• In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counsellor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org
