Schoolboy, 11, died from inhaling poisonous fumes after movies exhibiting harmful on-line pattern had been seen by mates, mom claims

An 11-year-old schoolboy who died from inhaling a can of deodorant learnt of the dangerous craze after social media videos were passed amongst his friends, his mother said today.

Tommie-lee Gracie Billington collapsed on a bed with a Lynx can by his side during a sleepover at a friend’s house in Lancaster in March 2024.

Following the tragedy, his mother claimed it was linked to a deadly TikTok challenge called ‘chroming’ which encourages children to inhale toxic aerosol fumes to get ‘high’, and called for under-16s to be banned from the social media site.

Today police told an inquest into Tommie-lee’s death that actually learnt about the craze directly from an older boy, with a coroner saying he was too young to understand the danger he was putting himself in.

But afterwards Sherri-Ann Gracie said she remained concerned by harmful social media content, telling the Daily Mail: ‘The chroming videos had all been shown to his friends and passed around.

‘An older boy had seen the video and that’s where it had come from.

‘The video was being passed around by people he knew – that is how they knew about it.’

Chroming was first recorded as a slang term in 2006.

But more recently it has found popularity with younger generations on social media platforms, where youngsters post videos of themselves inhaling toxic fumes.

TikTok has said it does not allow content showing or promoting dangerous activity or challenges and blocks searches relating to ‘chroming’.

Just last year a coroner called for age restrictions on the sale of aerosol deodorants, as well as clearer warnings about the harm abuse can cause, after the death of a 12-year-old boy.

Tommie-lee was found collapsed by his friend’s screaming mother in the early hours of March 2, 2024, Preston Coroner’s Court was told.

Doctors tried to resuscitate him for more than an hour when he arrived at Royal Lancaster Infirmary before he was pronounced dead just after 2pm.

A Lancashire Police investigation did not find any evidence that Tommie-lee had watched chroming videos before his death.

Detective Chief Inspector Dylan Hrynow said: ‘The evidence was that an older boy showed them how to inhale deodorant at a skatepark.’

He added: ‘However we are aware that videos of harmful content can disappear easily from the internet.’

The inquest heard that Tommie-lee and the friend had made a Snapchat video call to another friend during the sleepover.

It showed them inhaling Lynx deodorant and was labelled: ‘This is what we are doing’.

The inquest heard the group chat had an emoji with a tongue out and eyes rolling to the back of the head.

The friend told them: ‘Stop, don’t do it.’

DCI Hrynow said: ‘Tommie-lee told him he was tired and wanted to go to sleep.

‘He said he went to lie down on the bed’.

The friend had shouted ‘Wake up, wake up!’ when he found him unresponsive.

The inquest was told that the boys had been caught inhaling deodorant just six months before by his friend’s father.

However Tommie-lee’s parents said they were not aware of this.

Fighting back tears, his father Graham Billingon told the inquest: ‘I am very angry on hearing this.’

Paying tribute, Mr Billington said: ‘He was just a beautiful boy.

‘He was a whirlwind – full of life and energy.’

He added: ‘I really miss him.

‘I am just really, really upset.’

Concluding his death was misadventure, coroner Emma Mather said: ‘No adult had a chance to counsel Tommie-lee on the dangers of aerosols.

‘As a young child, he would not realise the dangers himself’.

Ms Mather said he was a ‘beautiful boy who had his whole life ahead of him’.

Last October a coroner called for extra restrictions on aerosol sales after concluding 12-year-old Oliver Gorman’s death from inhaling Lynx deodorant at his home in Hyde, Greater Manchester came after he was influenced by the lethal social media craze.