Inquiry launched into teachers of boy, 9, who hanged himself

An inquiry has been launched into whether teachers failed a nine-year-old boy who wrote "I feel like I want to kill myself" at school less than three months before his death.

Mason Springer was found hanging from a bathroom door by his mother Sandra at their home in Hackney on January 27.

But teachers did not tell his mother that he had written about his suicidal feelings on a "reflection sheet" at school in November.

Mason had taken nearly a year out of primary school in a bid to calm his behaviour and was receiving help from a psychiatric nurse.

In the weeks before his death, he told school staff he was being bullied but an inquest heard that his claims were dismissed as a bid for attention.

Teachers at St John and St James Primary School were said to be "deeply shocked" by Mason's death.

A serious case review into what went wrong will now investigate whether the school or health services could have done more to keep him safe.

A spokesman for Hackney Learning Trust, which runs education in the borough, said: "The Learning Trust and the community of St John and St James Primary School remain deeply shocked by the death of Mason.

"A multi-agency serious case review is under way which will look into the circumstances leading up to this tragic event and determine what lessons there are to be learned."

Mason had been sent home from school for touching a girl inappropriately on the day that Ms Springer found him in the bathroom.

Ms Springer said she disciplined her son when he arrived home and told him he would have to go to bed after having a bath.

She later forced open the bathroom door to find him unconscious with a dressing gown cord around his neck.

He was taken to Great Ormond Street Hospital but was pronounced dead the following morning.

The coroner recorded an open verdict at the inquest yesterday.