Mia Janin: boys at same school as teenager who killed herself 'shared images of girls on social media group'

Boys who attended the same school as a 14-year-old who tragically killed herself had a social media group where they shared images and videos of girls in their classes, a pre-inquest review has heard.

Mia Janin, 14, is believed to have taken her own life after being bullied on social media and at her school, the Jewish Free School (JFS), in north London. Mariano Janin, her father, believes Mia saw bullying messages the night before her death on 12 March 2021.

Speaking at a previous hearing at Barnet Coroner’s Court, Mr Janin said that students at JFS shared “horrible” messages about his daughter online - and that this was something she was aware of.

On Monday (26 June), in a follow-up hearing, assistant coroner Tony Murphy told the court that male students at JFS had a group chat where they posted photos and videos of female pupils - a matter he believed to be within the scope of the inquest as it was “relevant” to Mia’s “experience of bullying”.

The court also heard that Rabbi Cohen, former deputy headteacher at JFS, told the boys to close down the chat after Mia’s death. In a statement, he said he thought he had “done a good thing” by asking the boys to do this, but the family of Mia “certainly disagree”, said Mr Janin’s counsel, Sefton Kwasnik.

Lily Lewis, counsel for Mia’s brother Douglas Stewart, added that Mr Stewart would like to ask Rabbi Cohen questions about what he knew about the group chat either before or after his sister’s death - and requested that he be called as a witness for the final inquest.

Mr Murphy said it would have been helpful if the contents of the group chat had been “preserved” so the court could see “what, if anything, it contained about Mia”, but added that an email sent to the school on 17 March 2021 suggested that bosses at JFS had only been made aware of the social media group after Mia’s “sad death”.

Gary Lesin-Davis, counsel for Rabbi Cohen, added: “All evidence points to the fact that he or the school did not know of the presence of this social media group. How can the school or its employees act on something when it was not known?”

He also claimed that much of the discussion was based on “hearsay” and “gossip”. Mr Janin later expressed his upset at the use of the words “hearsay” and “gossip”, telling reporters that it was “dismissive”.

The bereaved father, who tragically lost his wife to cancer just four months after his daughter’s suicide, added that he felt he was constantly “fighting” in the case - saying he believed as much information as possible should be gathered to help ensure what happened to Mia does not happen again. “Nothing can bring my Mia back,” he said. “But we can prevent this in the future.”

Mr Murphy concluded that Rabbi Cohen would not be called as a witness in relation to the facts of the case, but would be called as a witness in relation to preventing future deaths. The inquest is set to take place over two or three days on a date yet to be confirmed in the New Year.