Bullies to blame for son's death, mother insists

After finding her son Mickey Miller hanged in his bedroom, his mother Helen Cooper received his results the next day – and found he had more than the grades needed to go on to further education.

"Gentle giant" Mickey was 6ft 2in and was always being picked on for being different by bullies from Scarborough's Graham School, his family said.

Mrs Cooper, who removed her daughter Sarah, 15, from school after the tragedy, reacted with fury yesterday to a coroner's ruling the teenager had been the victim of pre-exam result nerves.

Now Mrs Cooper, who remarried after the tragedy, must decide to "let my son rest in peace" or take legal action "to ensure no other family has to go through the pain, terror and horror we have gone through".

She added: "He did not deserve to die that way and something has to be done.

"If the school had an effective bullying policy my son would still be here."

Mickey's family moved to Scarborough 10 years ago from Oakwood, Leeds. Mrs Cooper added: "I wanted to give him a better start. Now I wonder if it was the worst thing I could have done."

The teenager dreamed of going to Hollywood to pursue a career in computer animation and had a provisional offer of a place on an IT course at Scarborough's Yorkshire Coast College, provided he obtained three passes at GCSE.

In fact, he ended up with four but an inquest was told that on August 26 last year, the night before he was due to pick up his results, he was convinced he had failed.

His mother said: "I said, 'It doesn't matter. You tried your best. You will get into college.' He had a rough time at school. He was bullied all the way through school."

The hearing was told Mickey was referred to the special children and adolescent service in 2005 for bullying issues.

A report by the service stated the problems had been resolved. He was referred again in 2008 but, according to the records, the family never responded to the offer of an appointment.

Mickey spent much of the evening of August 26 upstairs playing computer games.

When his mother went up to bed she noticed his bedroom door was shut, which was unusual because he was afraid of the dark.

She thought he had fallen asleep watching TV but when she pushed the door she found the former Boys Brigade member had hanged himself with a Brigade lanyard from the door.

North Yorkshire East Coroner Michael Oakley said: "It was apparent he had had problems at school but appears to be able to cope with these in more recent years."

The tragedy happened the night before he was due to pick up his results and even more sadly there had been nothing for him to worry about as things turned out, the coroner added.

Recording a suicide verdict, he added: "It was due to that type of pressure on any school child waiting for exam results. There is no evidence it had anything to do at all with previous incidents at the school."

But after the hearing Mrs Cooper, 43, of St Leonard's Crescent, Barrowcliff, Scarborough, said: "I still say my son's death was due to bullying at school. I am angry that the coroner seems to have pushed it aside.

"My son only mentioned his exams twice. He needed three passes and he got four. He came home upset about bullying a couple of times a week."

She maintained Mickey had been bullied – sometimes "viciously" – at both Barrowcliff and Northstead primary schools, as well as Graham. Towards the end he had given up complaining to staff and never told her anything was wrong.

After his death his friends told her he had been bullied right up until leaving school by people in his year group.

Garry Hancock, the executive headteacher of Graham School,

said: "Michael's death was a tragedy. Michael was a valued member of Graham School and he is still sadly missed. The outcome of the inquest does not alter that fact."