Heartbreaking 'tomorrow will be hard' voice note girl, 14, sent before death
A teenager who was bullied by boys at her school sent a heartbreaking voice message to her friend before taking her own life, an inquest has heard.
Mia Janin, a Year 10 pupil at the Jewish Free School (JFS) in Kenton, north-west London, was last seen alive at about 10pm on March 11, 2021, when she said good night to her parents in their family home in Barnet. She was found dead on the morning of March 12, 2021.
At Barnet Coroner's Court on Friday, North London area coroner Tony Murphy concluded that the 14-year-old girl "took her life while still a child and while still in the process of maturing into adulthood". The night before she was due to return to school, Mia sent a WhatsApp voice note to a friend saying she was "taking deep breaths" and "mentally preparing to get bullied".
Mia was found dead on the morning of March 12, 2021 (PA)
She was a Year 10 pupil at the Jewish Free School (JFS) in Kenton (PA)In the note, that was shared by her family with BBC London, Mia said: "Tomorrow's going to be a rough day, I’m taking deep breaths in and out. I’m currently mentally preparing myself to get bullied tomorrow."
After Mia was found dead by her loved ones at about 6.50am on March 12, they also discovered two undated letters in her handwriting, placed on her bed, that were addressed to "her loving family and friends". The inquest heard that the letters "explained that Mia decided to end her life".
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Mr Murphy added before his conclusion that Mia had "close friends including at her secondary school, but she also experienced bullying from some male students". He added that neither Mia's family or teachers were aware of that before her death.
Statements given by friends of Mia to the Metropolitan Police after her death were read out to the inquest, in which they said Mia 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. 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. Rabbi Howard Cohen, former deputy headteacher at JFS, told the inquest that after Mia's death there was "some talk around the school" of what he described as "boys-only bravado groups" sharing images of girls, and he was made aware of a boys' WhatsApp group in which members were rating the "attractiveness" of female pupils. But there was no reason to believe the groups related to Mia, Rabbi Cohen said.
Mia's dad Mariano Janin said she was 'beautiful, she very kind, very creative' (PA)He told the inquest he held a meeting with members of one of the group chats, who then agreed to disband it. Mia's father, Mariano Janin, told the inquest that his daughter asked if she could move school, after coming home on March 11.
The inquest heard that his 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 then went to bed. Hours later, she was dead.
Mr Murphy added: "Mia's secondary school has introduced systemic changes following her death. Mia is much missed by her loving family, caring friends and the wider community." The area coroner said he would let the legal representatives know at a later time if he would be issuing a prevention of future deaths report.
Mia's dad 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 limits should be introduced on the access of kids on the internet in order to create "a safe environment".
He added: "In order 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."
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