Boy, 13, took own life after seeing online posts

A “VERY ABLE” 13-year-old boy killed himself after viewing and posting material about suicide online during lockdown, an inquest has heard.

Zaheid Ali jumped from Tower Bridge after getting off a bus early on the way to school on April 20 2021.

His body was pulled from the Thames near a pub in Wapping, east London, eight days later.

Inner South London Coroner’s Court heard that his suicide note contained lyrics from a Japanese song which tells the story of a 14-year-old girl who kills herself. He had also followed someone in the US who had taken their own life, posted a “countdown” to his suicide on Youtube, and written on Twitter about his desire to kill himself.

A Whatsapp exchange with friends from March 2021, was found after he died. Zaheid, of Southwark, south London, wrote “I hate life at the moment and kind of want to give up”, among other similar messages.

Mumen Ali, his father, told the hearing he was “baffled” by what had happened to his son, who suffered from a digestive disorder. Mr Ali said his son had become “glued to his phone” and “stuck in his bedroom” in the Easter holidays, but his parents did not think his behaviour was unusual.

He added: “We put it down to his hormones changing from being a boy to being a man.”

Una Sookun, vice-principal of the Ark Globe Academy in Elephant and Castle, south London, where Zaheid was a Year 8 pupil, told the court he was “academically very able” but “quiet” with a “very small friendship group”.

Recording a conclusion of suicide, assistant coroner Dr Julian Morris offered his “very sincere” and “deepest” condolences to the family.