The family of a 16-year-old girl who killed herself after being mercilessly bullied have launched landmark legal action against her school and the police.
Lauren Lelonek died at home in 2016 following years of abuse, including three physical attacks and threats over social media.
In a claim submitted to the High Court, her parents accuse their daughter’s school of failing to take appropriate measures to protect Lauren from bullying and claim the police didn’t properly investigate.
It’s thought to be the first time such action has been taken against a UK school over a pupil’s suicide due to bullying.
The teenager’s parents, Sarah and Ian Lelonek said that their daughter Lauren was a kind, honest, caring and loving girl with a big heart, and that she was always putting others before herself, and that she was planning on going to college and training in hair and beauty, but all of that, all of her future was lost following a sustained campaign of bullying at her school.
The bullying of Lauren at the University of Chester Academy in Northwich, now called Rudheath Senior Academy and controlled by North West Academies Trust (NWAT), escalated from September 2015, the claim states.
Documents say she was repeatedly threatened with brutality and branded a grass after the first physical attack in October 2015 that was reported to Cheshire Police.
Lauren withdrew her complaint but she and a friend were attacked again that December and made the subjects of a Facebook post stating ‘snitches get stitches’.
Then the third attack in February 2016 saw Lauren lose chunks of hair, but according to the claim, the school told police they were happy to deal with the incident ‘in house’.
Lauren later messaged the friend, saying that she couldn’t remember the last time she was actually happy and that she didn’t know if she could carry on anymore.
Lauren’s family allege Cheshire Police were aware of a credible harassment claim but failed to properly investigate.
After the teenager’s demise, two girls, aged 17 and 18, were convicted of harassing Lauren for six months.
The case is being brought under the Human Rights Act, and Dan Rosenberg, a lawyer with Simpson Millar who represented a mother who sued the Government after her daughter attempted suicide when a school kept her in an isolation unit, said Lauren’s case was significantly different because their case didn’t concern the school’s responsibility for pupils behaviour.
A Cheshire Police spokesman said that their thoughts remain with Lauren’s family and all those who knew and loved her.
The school was in the wrong. They should’ve never dealt with in ‘in house’ and that was their biggest mistake. This was assault and bullying, and the oppressors should have been excluded the first time because this wasn’t just a playground spat.
This type of prosecution is long overdue so reality and legal force have to make the police and teachers take control against bullying.
Bullying is never taken seriously by schools and this is another beautiful life lost.
When a child is in school, the school is in loco parentis and it replaces the job of a parent and the parent isn’t in a position to protect their child while they’re in school.
Kids get bullied every day in schools and it’s time to get tougher on these oppressors.
This child must have felt so helpless, and the school and the police should have stepped in regardless of whether she dropped her accusations – she likely did this in fear of retaliation.
THE MONTHLY MOSQUITO 