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Boy bullied which led him to commit suicide

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COPS probing the suspected suicide of an 11-year-old boy amid claims he was being bullied at school are investigating evidence which suggests he was beaten up in the playground just hours before his death.

Asad Khan was found unresponsive in his bedroom last Wednesday afternoon.

The schoolboy was rushed to hospital where he later died.

Asad was found hanged in his bedroom, at home in Tile Street, Whetley Hill, Bradford, by his mother, Farheen Jan, soon after 4pm the same day, after telling her he wanted to change schools.

Detectives examining the reasons for the tragic hanging of Asad are sifting through huge amounts of information being provided by the public shocked by the schoolboy's death.

They include a claim that he was assaulted by a group of Sixth Form boys at his school, Beckfoot Upper Heaton, Bradford, West Yorks, at lunchtime, on September 28.

Asad's aunt Rehana Bibi, 34, said: "Asad was was just a very good innocent child, he was so sweet and I just cannot believe he has gone like this, I mean this is obviously a case of bullying from school.
"The parents are so, so good themselves that it's hard for them to understand what bullying is at school.

"Because they are not like that themselves they would not ever think that.

"Because obviously the parents thought it is a new school, new teachers, its only been a week and a half and he needs to adjust.

"But I've heard there were 16/17 year old boys in the school and they are no good, and they used to be around him and bully him.

"The boy was scared. Because he was scared he did not even know what he was doing, he was too innocent to know.

"Maybe he just wanted a bit of attention, or he was fed up that day.

"I am so devastated by this.

"He didn't even really say openly I am getting bullied but one of the boys said he had seen seen him in school once, and that Asad was standing in the corner with tears in his eyes.

"The boy said he had wiped Asad's tears and asked what was wrong, and Asad had replied 'them boys'."

Bradford West MP Naz Shah met with Asad's grieving parents last week.

In a Facebook post at the time she said: "This evening 11-year-old Asad took his own life.

"Asad had just started his new school recently and bullying is something that has been mentioned."

The MP had also met with the parents of a second boy killed in a road traffic accident.

She added: "Whilst many questions are being raised, and rightfully so, by both tragedies, and investigations are on going, one thing I know for sure is that both of these deaths shouldn't have happened.

"The pain etched in the faces of both sets of parents this evening is something no one should have to experience."

Former councillor Ishtiaq Ahmed wrote in a Facebook post: "My heartfelt sympathies go out to the family of an 11 year old boy from Manningham who committed suicide earlier today.

"He was reportedly being bullied at school, his mother found him hanged in his bedroom. I can't begin to imagine what his family must be going through. #prayers."

Detective Inspector Alan Flynn, of Bradford District CID, who is leading the investigation, said police were receiving a large amount of information from the public which would take time to process.

Det Insp Flynn said: "There is a lot of ongoing work to clarify what was going on in this young lad's life prior to his death.

"We are looking for information from the community and we are setting up a specialist email address for the public so they can provide any information or evidence, including visual, that could assist us in understanding what has occurred."

Det Insp Flynn said a post-mortem examination would be taking place to establish an exact cause of death.

He added: "We know this young lad was unfortunately found hanging by his family.

"There is nothing suspicious in the tragic death itself. Clearly we are trying to establish what he was feeling, and what was going on in his life before he died, for the sake of his family, and the coroner."

"Clearly we are receiving reports that there may have been a bullying issue. I cannot corroborate that. If we receive information that he was being bullied, we will look into that.

"Bullying is not a criminal offence. But if there is criminal behaviour, like assault, we will look at it."

A petition has been set-up in Asad's name called Bite Bullying in the Bud. It calls for lessons about the damage bullying can cause to be part of the curriculum and has received more than 15,000 signatures.

Beckfoot Upper Heaton School in West Yorkshire said pupils and staff were "united in grief" following the death of the Year 7 pupil.

A statement posted to its website said: "It is with great sadness that we learnt last night of the death of Asad Khan one of the school's newest students.

"The school is united in its grief at this sad time.

"The school community is working together as students, parents and staff come to terms with these events.

"All our thoughts are with Asad's family at this terribly difficult time."

It is believed Asad had only attended the school for three weeks.
If you need help contact Child Line on 0800 11 11 or the Samaritans on 116 123

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Boy, 11, found hanged after he 'had been beaten up by sixth formers in the playground hours earlier'

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COPS probing the suspected suicide of an 11-year-old boy amid claims he was being bullied at school are investigating evidence which suggests he was beaten up in the playground just hours before his death. Asad Khan was found unresponsive in his bedroom last Wednesday afternoon. The schoolboy was rushed to hospital where he later died.

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the ward/hospital

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There were "serious failures" in the treatment a baby girl who died at a children's hospital following open heart surgery, a coroner said today.

Hayley Fullerton died at Birmingham Children's Hospital one month after her first birthday after undergoing corrective surgery for a heart condition. She died on November 11 2009, 12 days after being transferred from the hospital's intensive care unit to a general ward.

Her mother Paula Stevenson, who flew to the UK from Australia to attend today's hearing with Hayley's father Bobby Fullerton, has raised concerns about the care given to her baby.

Recording a narrative verdict today at the end of the inquest into Hayley's death Aidan Cotter, coroner for Birmingham and Solihull, said: "The failures by a number of the staff at Birmingham Children's Hospital were serious but not gross."

But speaking afterwards, Ms Stevenson called the staff at the hospital "bullies, cowards and hypocrites" and said Hayley's death was "preventable and predictable".

Ms Stevenson, 40, told the inquest during an earlier hearing that she believed her daughter, who was born in Northern Ireland on October 6, 2008, with a heart defect and a hole in the heart, could have lived if staff at Birmingham Children's Hospital had listened to her concerns.

The court heard that Hayley underwent palliative surgery at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast weeks after she was born. She was then flown to Birmingham Children's Hospital for corrective heart surgery on October 14, 2009.

Ms Stevenson, who is from Northern Ireland but now lives on Australia's Gold Coast, said the operation was a success and Hayley was transferred to the hospital's Paediatric Intensive Care Unit, where she spent 17 days before being moved on to a normal ward.

On November 9 an X-ray revealed that Hayley's right lung had collapsed. She was given physiotherapy the following day but on the morning of November 11 both lungs collapsed and she went into cardiac arrest. She was pronounced dead after a team of doctors spent 20 minutes trying to save her, the inquest heard.

During the hearing Ms Stevenson said her child had been failed "abominably" by medical staff on ward 11, describing her experience as "brutal".

She said staff at the hospital neglected Hayley, "dumped" her at the end of a ward and ignored the family's concerns about her breathing as she recovered from her surgery.

Speaking after the inquest verdict was returned at Sutton Coldfield Town Hall, Hayley's mother said she believed her "beautiful little girl" would still be alive if staff had come to her aid sooner.

Ms Stevenson, who called for the NHS to set up rapid response teams to give patients' families a right to an urgent second opinion, said: "Today is Hayley's day - I have been waiting three years to speak up.

"Hayley died like an abandoned animal - nobody listened to me while Hayley was dying and nobody listened to me when Hayley was dead."

Ms Stevenson added: "Our entire family has been completely devastated by what happened and to this day we continue to grieve for Hayley.

"I still cannot understand how trained medics could ignore the fact that she was slowly deteriorating before their eyes.

"They had seven days to spot that something was seriously wrong but all those precious opportunities were missed.

"My parents and I never left Hayley's bedside during the entire time she was in hospital and it was obvious to us, despite our lack of medical training, that she was a very sick little girl who needed help."

Ms Stevenson, who now plans to sue the trust which runs the hospital, said: "I did all I could to try to get the nurses to help her but my appeals just fell on deaf ears.

"At one point, after I had complained that Hayley wasn't getting the treatment she needed, she was moved to an isolation room, with staff claiming she might have swine flu.

"This diagnosis was later found to be completely wrong but it meant we were moved even further from the nurses' station and couldn't attract their attention easily.

"It was as though Hayley had been placed in isolation as a punishment for me daring to speak up on her behalf."

In an internal review of Hayley's death, the NHS found that a "hierarchy" among medics deterred junior staff from referring Hayley back to a paediatric intensive care unit in the days before she died.

Ms Stevenson added: "It is to their shame that not one of them saw fit to ask for an urgent second opinion."

In a statement issued after the coroner's verdict, the Birmingham Children's Hospital NHS Foundation Trust said: "When Hayley died we recognised that some of her care fell below our usual high standards and for this we offer a heartfelt apology for the distress that has been caused.

"We've taken all the steps possible to learn from this.

"We've gone beyond the recommendations of our investigation and improved the way we do things to ensure that no children or families experience anything like this again."

In his summing up of the evidence and narrative verdict, Mr Cotter said he could only make a finding of neglect if there had been a "gross" failure to provide medical attention which had a sufficient causal connection to the death.

Ruling that the failings in Hayley's care were serious rather than gross, the coroner said the evidence at the inquest had not supported the hospital's finding that junior staff were "uncomfortable" about referring patients to the paediatric intensive care unit.

Listing the failures, Mr Cotter said he was satisfied that Hayley should have been referred to a children's intensive care unit two days before her death.

The coroner was also critical of a delay in providing physiotherapy to Hayley and other aspects of her care, including inaccuracies in medical records.

"Nobody will ever know whether Hayley would have made a successful recovery," the coroner said. "However it is indisputable that Hayley would have had a better chance of survival if she had been referred to the paediatric intensive care unit on November 9."

Medical specialists at law firm Irwin Mitchell, who have represented the family in their three-year battle for answers, said the hospital trust had now fully admitted that a catalogue of failings was responsible for Hayley's "tragic and avoidable" death.

During the inquest, which heard evidence in April, May and September, it emerged that an internal investigation found a "hierarchical culture" among staff on one ward had contributed to the decision not to return Hayley to intensive care.

Mandy Luckman, a medical law expert at Irwin Mitchell's Birmingham office, said: "Given the trust has now admitted full liability, there needs to be an urgent review to determine whether the system failings put to the trust during the inquest, and as accepted in the trust's own internal investigation report, have now been remedied.

"Hayley's family - and indeed any parent whose child requires critical care at Birmingham Children's Hospital - need reassurance that all clinical and nursing staff now clearly understand the criteria for a young patient needing urgent referral (to intensive care).

"We also hope that the trust has taken steps to remove the old hierarchical culture at the hospital which, in effect, prevented medical staff from doing their job.

"Although nothing can turn back the clock for Paula and her family, who continue to suffer the most unimaginable heartache, they are determined that Hayley's death will not be completely in vain and will hopefully create a catalyst for change in the NHS."

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'Bullies, cowards and hypocrites': Mother condemns hospital staff's

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There were "serious failures" in the treatment a baby girl who died at a children's hospital following open heart surgery, a coroner said today. Hayley Fullerton died at Birmingham Children's Hospital one month after her first birthday after undergoing corrective surgery for a heart condition.

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the ward

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Bullying nursery nurses guilty of dragging toddler by his legs and encouraging children to poke him

Two nursery nurses were today found guilty of bullying a two-year-old boy at a day nursery.

Lisa Wymer, 22, and her colleague Rebecca Robins, 21, were caught on the CCTV camera installed at the nursery in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire.

Footage played to a jury at St Albans crown court showed the toddler being dragged across the floor by his legs and other children being encouraged to poke the little boy as he lay on the floor.

The youngster, who went to the nursery two days a week, also had his trousers pulled down and his socks and shoes removed.

The mother of the little boy told the jury of seven men and five women that in the hours after the bullying he was like a 'shadow' following her everywhere.

She said: 'He was just very clingy. He wanted to be in my arms'.

She said if she was holding anything her son would take it off her so he could be held instead.

Miss Wymer from from Arundel Drive, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire and Miss Robins from High Street, Codicote, Hertforshire both pleaded not guilty to a charge of cruelty to a child under 16 on December 17 last year.

Wymer was convicted unanimously, Robins by a majority of ten to two.

Both women were suspended and eventually dismissed from the nursery.

Sentence was adjourned by Judge Martin Griffith for reports to be prepared.

Both women were granted bail. He told the women: 'You bullied him and took advantage of him.'

He thanked the jury saying: 'I suspect that is the end of their time in any way being associated with children.'

After the case DC Andy Moody of the Child Abuse Investigation Unit said: 'The defendants have continued to deny causing any distress to the two year old since the incident was first reported to the police, to the extent of putting the little boy's parents through the ordeal of a trial at court.'

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Bullying nursery nurses guilty of dragging toddler by his legs and encouraging children to poke him

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Two nursery nurses were today found guilty of bullying a two-year-old boy at a day nursery. Lisa Wymer, 22, and her colleague Rebecca Robins, 21, were caught on the CCTV camera installed at the nursery in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire.

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by JAMES TOZER, Daily Mail

A distraught mother has claimed that her 11-year-old son was driven to suicide by bullies at his school.

Thomas Thompson took an overdose of painkillers after other pupils picked on him because he was clever and well-spoken, she said.

Sandra Thompson found her son in his bedroom when she returned home from work in the evening.

Her partner, Geoff Clarke, tried to resuscitate the youngster while paramedics were called, but he had suffered a fatal heart attack.

Thomas is believed to be the youngest child to take his own life because of alleged bullying.

Coming so soon after similar cases, his death will add fuel to the debate over what to do about the bullying problem.

Miss Thompson, a shop assistant, said her son's ordeal began at Riverside Primary School near their home in Wallasey, Wirral, Merseyside.

It was thought the situation might have eased last September when he started his secondary education at Wallasey School in nearby Moreton, but the bullying continued.

His 33-year-old mother, who also has an eight-year-old daughter, Alexandra, said: "He told me how they got at him every day - trying to strangle him with his tie, poking him.

"It was like torture. They'd call him names like 'gay boy' and 'fatso'. He didn't really fit in with other boys his age.

"He was extremely clever and loved reading and doing his schoolwork. So they teased and tormented him relentlessly - just because he was a bit different. These bullies killed my son."

Thomas frequently missed classes.

On the day of his death, he had got off the school bus to escape the bullies. Miss Thompson said she had spoken to Thomas's teachers, but the school claimed the only reported incident had been at a bus stop and involved children from another school.

Wallasey School headmaster Martin Pope said: "There is absolutely no record of the child reporting bullying within the school. We saw no evidence of Thomas being treated differently by other pupils."

Describing him as an "extremely intelligent boy", he added: "The whole school has been deeply shocked and saddened by Thomas's death."

Wirral Council said the school's commitment to eradicating bullying is widely admired and this made Thomas's death particularly sad.

But Dr Michele Elliott, director of child protection group Kidscape, said: "Thomas's death is a terrible waste of a life. At 11 years old, he should have been living a carefree life and looking forward to the summer holidays.

"The bullies apparently responsible for his death, and anyone who stood by and watched it happen passively, should be punished."

Last month 16-year-old Karl Peart took an overdose of painkillers after suffering what his family called a lifetime of bullying.

Two weeks later, Gemma Dimmick, a 15-year-old at the same school - Hirst High, in Ashington, Northumberland - also committed suicide. Relatives claimed she too had been bullied.

Also last month, nine-year-old Jessica O'Connell's parents revealed the diary she kept of her suffering at St Wilfred Roman Catholic School in Ripon, North Yorkshire, as she was driven to the brink of suicide by bullies.

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by JAMES TOZER, Daily Mail A distraught mother has claimed that her 11-year-old son was driven to suicide by bullies at his school. Thomas Thompson took an overdose of painkillers after other pupils picked on him because he was clever and well-spoken, she said.