The father of a 14-year-old girl who killed herself after being bullied has said his family are victims of a “failing system” after an inquest into her death.
Mia Janin, a year 10 pupil at the Jewish free school in Kenton, north-west London, was found dead at her family home in Harrow on 12 March 2021.
The inquest into her death concluded that Mia “took her life while still a child and while still in the process of maturing into adulthood”, Barnet coroner’s court heard on Friday.
In a statement, Mia’s father, Mariano Janin, said: “For almost three years we have sought answers for the loss of Mia. Today we found some of those answers and the failure of the people who [we] trust and were meant to keep her safe.
“My daughter experienced prolonged and sustained bullying in various ways in person and online. 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.”
North London area coroner Tony Murphy said Mia was last seen alive at about 10pm on 11 March 2021, when she said goodnight to her parents in their family home.
She was found dead by her parents at about 6.50am the next morning, with two undated letters in Mia’s handwriting found on her bed addressed to “her loving family and friends”, which “explained that Mia decided to end her life”, Murphy said.
He added that Mia had “close friends including at her secondary school, but she also experienced bullying from some male students” and that neither her family or teachers were aware of that before her death. Murphy said: “Mia’s secondary school has introduced systemic changes following her death.”
During the inquest, Mariano Janin paid tribute to his daughter, saying “she was fantastic, she was very bubbly, good sense of humour, she was beautiful, she was very kind, very creative”.
He said that “school is not only for the curricula” and they need to have “clear values” to respect one another and have a better society, adding: “Unfortunately, I’m a victim of this failing system.”
“To protect our kids I think we need to do a lot of things. I think 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.”
He told the inquest that his daughter asked if she could move schoolon 11 March. The inquest heard that Janin’s wife, Marisa, who has since died, told Mia she could be home-schooled for the rest of the school year, and that they would look into moving her to a new school after.
Mia’s friends said in statements made to police after her death, and read out in 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, a 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.
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 counselor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org
