Father of boy, 14, who died claims son was bullied
THE father of a pupil who died in hospital after an incident at St John Lloyd Catholic School in Llanelli has alleged his son was bullied at school.
Bradley John, 14, died in hospital after being taken there following an incident at the school on Wednesday.
Byron John, Bradley’s father, paid tribute to his son this week, describing him as a “charismatic, wonderful and dearly loved individual”.
And in an interview with BBC Wales Today yesterday, Mr John – whose son had Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD) – said Bradley had been bullied.
When asked if Bradley mentioned problems to him or talked about being bullied, Mr John said: “Yes. There were a number of incidents that we addressed with the school.
“We’d come in for meetings and, looking back, I do feel that more emphasis and understanding should be given to the condition [ADHD].”
Asked if he thought Bradley’s ADHD made him a target for bullies, Mr John said: “Definitely.”
“We dropped off an apparently happy, healthy 14-year-old on Wednesday morning. Something upset him. With a child with ADHD it doesn’t take a lot, the little things mean a lot.
“Please, please, be sympathetic, you can hurt them so badly, so very easily.
“He was so loved; if he could have seen that we could have prevented this.”
The BBC reported that Bradley was found in the toilets at his school before he was taken to hospital.
Mr John said: “Whatever we do from here we are never going to see him, we are never going to laugh with him, we are never going to get mad at him, we are never going to support him, we are never going to be his friend.”
Paying tribute to Bradley, Mr John described the high school pupil as his “best friend”.
In an open letter issued to all pupils yesterday, school head teacher Ashley Howells described Bradley as a “polite, cooperative and articulate young man”.
Pupils and staff have since received specialist support from Dyfed-Powys Police, while flowers which were placed outside the school gates have since been moved to a memorial garden within the school grounds.
In his letter Mr Howells said: “As you are aware from the joint press release issued by the school and Dyfed-Powys Police earlier this week, one of our Year 10 pupils, Bradley John, tragically died as a result of an incident that occurred within the school on Wednesday.
“A joint police and coroner’s investigation is ongoing. I want to reassure families that there is no suspicion of a criminal act, no suspicion of foul play, nobody else was involved and, contrary to some reports, no weapons or firearms were involved. Whilst tragic events such as this cannot be prepared for, I must pay tribute to how the pupils and staff have conducted themselves over the last 48 hours.”
Since his death, friends of the schoolboy have started a social media video campaign to remember him. The #BlowforBradley campaign remembers the Ammanford pupil, who was a keen participant in socalled “clean-boot” hunts which see dogs following a human scent.
Dyfed-Powys Police said on Wednesday the incident was not being treated as suspicious.