Justice for Brandon at the Inquest - by his parents, Mina and Rajinder Rayat.

The background

Our beloved son, Brandon Singh Rayat, tragically took his own life at the age of 15 on 9th August 2016 following a period of physical and psychological abuse by his school peers. The bullying was direct and via social media.

In May 2015, Brandon was diagnosed as suffering from an acute stress reaction as a result of the bullying. In November 2015, the abuse became so bad that Brandon stopped attending school altogether. He became lonely and isolated, and despite being prescribed antidepressants, his condition did not improve. Two months before he took his own life, Brandon started to give away all his possessions and money to his loved ones.

We, as Brandon’s parents, remain distraught and consider that our repeated calls for help to medical, educational and social care professionals went unanswered. In the 16 months leading up to his death, Brandon tried to take his own life on numerous occasions and we begged professionals for help. This included asking doctors to transfer Brandon to a secure medical unit. Nothing was done.

The inquest

A coroners inquest will take place for 4 days starting on 29 August 2017. A number of public bodies will be legally represented.

We do not have the funds to pay for specialist lawyers to represent us. We consider this to be an injustice and in order for the correct questions to be asked of various professionals of how Brandon came to his death on behalf of his family, we kindly ask that donations are made to pay for our legal representation.

We are also aware that Brandon’s story is not a one off and that bullying at school and online happens all over the UK. Although this is a very personal issue for us, it is also a matter of deep public concern. We are already leading the campaign #stopignoringme to challenge the government and education authorities to do more for victims and families of bullying and for cyberbullying to become illegal.

Funding

It will be impossible for us as lay persons to attempt to challenge what we consider to be the failings to Brandon by the public authorities.

We are eager to initially raise £5000 of the £50,000 to pay for our legal costs and to ensure that specialist lawyers are instructed who are experienced in dealing with such cases. We have the right to know how Brandon died and it would be an injustice for us not to have the ability to help bring about the truth.

We thank you all so much for any support you can help us with, and in sharing our story.