Tributes have been paid to an 11-year-old schoolboy who was found dead by his mother in the bedroom of his home in Bradford.
Asad Khan was found in an unresponsive state when police officers and paramedics were called to the home in Tile Street, shortly before 4.20pm on Wednesday.
After meeting Asad’s parents on Wednesday night, the Bradford West MP, Naz Shah, said he may have been bullied and killed himself.
Shah wrote on Facebook: “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.”
Shah told the Guardian that she was due to visit the family on Thursday afternoon.
She said: “Bullying is something that is being looked at. It was something that was mentioned to me by one family member. His parents are distraught and I will be seeing them again today.”
Simon Wade, the headteacher at Beckfoot Upper Heaton school, where Asad had been a pupil for three weeks, said in a statement on the school’s website: “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.”
Asad’s aunt, Rehana Bibi, 34, said she had been told by some young boys in the family that her nephew was being bullied. She said: “Asad was was just a very good innocent child, he was so sweet and I just cannot believe he has gone like this.”
A spokesperson for West Yorkshire police would not confirm how Asad had died until the results of a postmortem examination were available.
The spokesperson added: “The boy was taken to hospital, but sadly died a short time later. Inquiries are continuing, but his death is not believed to be suspicious at this time.”
