A MOTHER whose teenage daughter died after inhaling lighter fuel last night warned other youngsters of the dangers posed by solvent abuse.

Lynn Merrington found her daughter, Holly Fletcher, 15, on the kitchen floor of their home in Shildon, County Durham, on September 28, last year.

Paramedics took the teenager to Darlington Memorial Hospital, but she died later that night.

A subsequent police search of the kitchen found a butane gas canister in a wicker basket in the room and a postmortem examination concluded that Holly’s death had been caused by the effects of butane inhalation.

An inquest at Chester-le- Street Magistrates’ Court yesterday recorded a verdict of death by non-dependant abuse of drugs (butane gas).

Speaking after the case, Ms Merrington, who has three other children – Rebecca, Louis and Sophie – issued a warning to other teenagers about the deadly effects of solvent abuse and urged them to stay away from drugs.

“All these kids who do drugs – they just seem to get away with it and think nothing will happen to them,” she said.

“Holly did not normally do things like that; she was a happy-go-lucky girl who loved to go shopping.

“She went through a difficult time and that is why she did what she did.”

The inquest heard that although Holly had abused lighter fuel on a couple of previous occasions, she was not a regular user of the substance and was not dependant on it.

After recording the verdict, Coroner Andrew Tweddle also warned of the dangers posed by inhaling the substance.

He said: “If there is anything good to come from this then it might just trigger someone else’s mind to think that this is not a good idea.

“Holly was just 15.

“Clearly, she had experienced some difficulties in her life and this was probably not the first time she had abused butane gas, but she certainly was not dependant or a regular user of substances like this.

“Using lighter fuel in this way is particularly dangerous.

We all know it is not good, but nevertheless, people still continue to deal with drugs in this way.

“Many people use it and get away with it, as it were, but they are dicing with death all the time.

“It is a very dangerous pastime.”

Meanwhile, Ms Merrington paid tribute to Holly, who had just started year ten at Sunnydale Community College, in Shildon.

She described her daughter as a “very bonny girl” who loved make-up, clothes and music by Rhianna.

“Holly loved having her headphones in and had lots of friends,” said Ms Merrington, who no longer lives in Shildon.

“She was a precious daughter, a one-off, and I will never be able to replace her.”