I am a victim of this faulty system, Mia Janin’s father says after the investigation

The father of a schoolgirl who took her own life after being bullied said the family had received few answers following the inquest into her death, but added that he was a “victim of this failed system”.

Mia Janin, a Year 10 student at the Jewish Free School (JFS) in Kenton, North West London, was found dead at her family home in Barnet on 12 March 2021.

North London Coroner Tony Murphy concluded that 14-year-old Mia “took her own life when she was still a child and still growing up”, at Barnet Coroner’s Court on Friday.

Mia’s father, Mariano Janin, paid tribute to his daughter, saying “she was fantastic, she was very bubbly, she had a good sense of humour, she was beautiful, she was very kind, very creative”.

Mr Murphy said Mia was last seen alive at around 10pm on March 11, 2021, when she said good night to her parents at their family home.

She was found hanged by her parents at around 6.50am on 12 March 2021. Two undated handwritten letters were found on her bed, addressed to “her loving family and friends”, which “explained that Mia had decided to put her end of life”.

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

He added that neither Mia’s family nor the teachers knew this before her death.

Mr Murphy said: “Mia’s secondary school introduced systemic changes after her death.

“Mia is greatly missed by her loving family, caring friends and the wider community.”

The area coroner said he would notify legal representatives later if he would issue a report to prevent future deaths.

In a statement after the inquest, Mr Janin said: “Nothing will bring back my wife and my daughter Mia.

“For nearly three years I have searched for answers to the loss of Mia, today I found some of those answers and the failure of the people who trusted and were kept to keep her safe.

“My daughter suffered prolonged and sustained bullying in various ways, in person and online. In a way, it is a relief that this has now been recognised, however, there must be accountability. Another family cannot experience what I experienced.”

Mr Janin added: “To protect our children I think we need to do a lot of things.

“I think we need to put some limits on children’s access to the internet and how we can retain data if something like this happened.

“We need to create a safe environment for our children.”

Asked what he would like to see in a report to potentially prevent future deaths, he said: “I’m not an expert, I have experience with what happened to Mia.

“I think the school needs to be more vigilant, they need more young people to understand all this social media, all this technology.”

He said that “school is not just for syllabus” but must have “clear values” to respect each other and have a better society.

Mr Janin added: “It’s very simple, it has nothing to do with me. Unfortunately, I am a victim of this failed system.”

Mr Janin said he would not support banning smartphones in schools, but referred to the Online Safety Act, saying it was “something that is right”.

He added: “We need to learn from our mistakes to avoid this happening again.”

Mr Janin said he was “delighted” to hear the school had introduced changes.

Statements given by Mia’s friends to the Metropolitan Police after her death were read at the inquest, in which they said Mia was bullied by other pupils at school and their friendship group was nicknamed the ‘suicide squad’ in the months that followed . until her death.

They said one of Mia’s TikToks was shared in a Snapchat group chat run by male JFS students, where they made fun of her.

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

Rabbi Howard Cohen, a former assistant principal at JFS, told the inquest that after Mia’s death there was “something seen around the school” about what he described as “boys-only bravado groups” sharing images of girls and was informed of a WhatsApp group of boys where members were rating the “attractiveness” of female students.

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

He told the inquest he had a meeting with members of one of the group chats, who then agreed to disband it.

Mr Janin told the inquest that his daughter asked if she could move to the school after she came home on March 11.

The inquest heard his wife Marisa, who has since died, told Mia she could be home-schooled for the rest of the school year and would move her to a new school afterwards.

Mia then went to bed. A few hours later, she was dead.

The coroner in the area previously said there was no evidence that images or videos of Mia were shared in the group chat, except on TikTok.

– For mental health support contact Samaritans on 116 123, email [email protected] or visit samaritans.org.