CLOSER NEWS REPORT
This week, upsetting scenes on Coronation Street show a teenage boy reach breaking point because of bullies. Closer speaks to one mum about the devastating impact being bullied can have…
When Emma Ward* looked at her daughter’s phone to check her social media accounts last August, she was horrified by what she saw. Her 13-year-old daughter, Taylor*, had reams of messages calling her ugly and stupid and threatening that if she came to school, she would be beaten up.
Emma, 40, says, “I couldn’t believe what I was reading.
Iknew that she was being bullied at school and it was having a huge effect on her mental health. But I just thought we could get through it. I had no idea quite how bad things had got.
ESCALATED
“Taylor started to withdraw from us. We spent time trying to make changes. Her school said they would move the bullies from her class, which they did – but the bullying just continued online and escalated.
“When I asked Taylor about it, she just sobbed and said it would be better for everyone if she wasn’t here anymore. I couldn’t believe we’d got to this point where my precious daughter thought that taking her own life was the best option.”
The number of children having counselling for cyberbullying has more than doubled in five years. Online bullying is a contributing factor for many young people having thoughts of suicide and, shockingly, over 200 schoolchildren die by suicide every year in the UK.
Last month, an inquest heard how 14-year-old Mia Janin is believed to have taken her own life after she was allegedly made fun of in a group chat by boys at her school.
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. One of Mia’s TikTok videos was shared to a Snapchat group chat run by male pupils, where they made fun of her.
ROCK BOTTOM
Mia’s father, Mariano, told the inquest his daughter asked if she could move school after coming home on 11 March 2021. 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 anew school after. Mia then went to bed. Hours later, she was dead.
During the inquest, Mariano described Mia as “fantastic”, saying, “She was very bubbly, very kind, very creative.”
Bullying and its devastating effects is something that a storyline in Coronation Street is currently tackling. This week, viewers will see a desperate Liam Connor (played by Charlie Wrenshall) contemplating taking his own life when his mental health hits rock bottom after
