Hanged boy was bullied at school, says mother

A BOY who hanged himself in the bathroom of his home was regularly bullied at school, his mother claimed at an inquest yesterday.

Nathan Jones, a 12-year- old talented singer and performer, was found dead after his mother Maria Window discovered a note pinned to the locked door.

She told Walthamstow Coroners Court how she frantically tried to force the bathroom door open after finding the note. ‘ I called out to Nathan and he did not reply so I went upstairs. The bathroom door was locked and I couldn’t get it open.

‘I noticed there was a note pinned to the door and it had Nathan’s writing on it. That’s when I knew something had happened and rushed to get help.’

Mrs Window said her son had written in his diary about incidents at Kingswood School in Romford, Essex, including that he had been stabbed in the back with a compass.

She said: ‘He wrote that he had a bad day because he had some trouble with some boys. He said it had been sorted out and he didn’t want me to do anything about it.

‘There was one day he took some paints into school and someone took it off him and threw it at him. Another time he had blood on him. A conker had been thrown at him the day before it had happened as well. I spoke to his head of year, she said she knew about it and it was all in hand.’

Head of year Sarah Cottam said she was aware that Nathan had had difficulty with a particular boy but it had been sorted out.

She said she knew of various incidents, including the compass attack, but there was no evidence of bullying. School head Delia Mulholland said she was not aware of any bullying in relation to Nathan.

Coroner Elizabeth Stearns recorded a verdict of misadventure, saying she believed Nathan had acted impulsively and may not have been fully aware of the consequences of his actions.

She said: ‘ In my view there is nothing to support evidence of a systematic bullying culture in the school.’