A British schoolboy tragically lost his life after participating in a perilous TikTok challenge known as “chroming”, an inquest has heard.
Oliver Gorman, 12, met his untimely end after inhaling the potentially lethal gas from Lynx and Aldi deodorants. His mother Clare Gillespie issued a stark warning about the TikTok trend – where youngsters inhale aerosols to experience a high – referred to as “chroming” or “huffing” at an inquest into Oliver’s tragic demise.
Manchester South Coroner’s Court was informed that Oliver had been subjected to verbal bullying regarding his appearance but was also a vibrant lad with a solid social circle. mum Clare, formerly of Hyde, Greater Manchester but now residing in Shrewsbury, expressed her desire to alert other parents about various emojis which were also spotlighted in the hit Netflix drama Adolescence.
Overcome with emotion, she confessed: “I don’t know whether Oliver did that to escape. As a mother that hurts me. Every Christmas we have a standing joke that we never have so many chocolates, deodorants and gift sets.
“There were symbols on Oliver’s TikTok account. I had never seen them before so I looked at Google. In the Netflix series Adolescence they used these symbols. Oliver felt low and he turned to social media. I don’t believe he did it to take his life. I think it was something that went terribly wrong.”, reports the Mirror.
“If there is one thing, I want to make sure parents know the risk of what these things can do. He was a sweet boy, a lovely family boy.”
Clare revealed they had launched a petition called Oliver’s Awareness and were determined to take their campaign forward to spotlight the perils of social media, solvent abuse and bullying.
She explained: “If we can raise awareness in one place, in ten places in a million places. Every teenage boy gets a Lynx. I can’t use anything like that anymore. I used to be a hairdresser for 26 years but I can’t even use a hair spray.”
The inquest heard that Oliver had recently returned from a family break to Wales before retreating to his bedroom on May 5 this year at approximately 4.30pm.
His mother discovered him beneath his duvet moments later, not breathing.
Emergency services rushed to the scene and Oliver, who had two elder brothers, was transported to Tameside General Hospital where he was declared dead at 7.31pm.
The court heard that five aerosol containers were discovered in his bedroom – three Lynx products and two from Aldi.
Assistant coroner Andrew Bridgman delivered a verdict of death by misadventure.
Mr Bridgman stated he did not believe Oliver had intended to end his own life and concluded it was impossible to determine whether Oliver had previously inhaled butane. Mr Bridgman expressed his belief that the warnings on aerosols were insufficient and required attention.
He stated: “There is no evidence that Oliver deliberately inhaled the aerosol with the intention of ending his own life. It strikes me this chroming comes from TikTok challenges.
“It is clear when you look at the TikTok challenges it is really quite frightening what is put out by social media which affects the young minds of people like Oliver. There needs to be more awareness.”
Mr Bridgman voiced his concern that the labelling about the risks of inhaling aerosols was inadequate and that under 16s could purchase the cans, and he would be writing to the business secretary about it.
He further added: “A major concern is that TikTok disseminates these challenges without any regard to the wellbeing of those who subscribe to it. It concerns me that these life-threatening challenges go out on TikTok and are so easily accessible. Maybe it is the culture secretary I need to write to about that. Hopefully between us we can prevent the future loss of young lives.”
After the hearing, Clare, aged 42, said: “Social media is a disgrace. I got on Facebook to speak to relatives. Now there are people daring other children to take their own lives or do something that could end up horrendous. People are going to lose their children’s lives because of these trends. This one kills.
“As a parent I just feel numb and upset. Don’t buy your children these solvents and don’t have them in your home. I never thought this could happen to my child. We buy our children mobile phones for safety but that safety is a big gamble because you don’t know what they are doing on them.”