A CORONER has warned of the dangers of sniffing lighter fuel and taking recreational drugs following the death of a young Kinver chef.

John Gittins, acting coroner for North Wales Central, issued the warning at an inquest in Prestatyn, North Wales, into the death of 23-year-old Christopher Down who was found dead in his mother’s timeshare chalet at the Dyserth Falls Resort on October 13.

Mr Down, of Castle Street, had been staying at the chalet with three friends and one of them, Jake Emblem, told the hearing that when they returned to the chalet after visiting local pubs and clubs Mr Down sniffed lighter fuel which he had put on a Polo shirt.

Mr Emblem, of Hillside Avenue, Rowley Regis, said: “He asked me ‘Do you want to have a go?. But it smelled industrial and I didn’t want it.”

He and another friend, Timothy Stevens, of Mount Close, Wombourne, told the inquest they knew the chef had inhaled butane once before and also occasionally used recreational drugs such as ecstasy, mephedrone, known as MCAT, and cocaine.

They and Mr Down’s mother, Geraldine Down, also said he sometimes suffered a form of allergic reaction to some alcoholic drinks which brought him out in a rash. He was also asthmatic.

Mr Emblem described how he heard his friend sleeping noisily but when he couldn’t wake him in the morning he realized he was dead.

Consultant pathologist Dr Andrew Dalton told the inquest there was no sign of drugs and the level of alcohol in his body was low, only 55 milligrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood - the drink-driving limit being 80.

The cause of death, he said, was pulmonary oedema – fluid in the lungs – with butane inhalation and the small amount of alcohol having combined to affect his breathing.

He added: “It was a fatal combination.”

Mrs Down said she was informed of her son’s death on landing in Lanzarote, where she had gone on holiday.

Following his death she learned he had substantial debts but was very happy in his work at an old people’s home and he was hoping to build up a business as a DJ.

Recording a verdict of accidental death, Mr Gittins said Mr Down had apparently been seeking a “high” by inhaling the butane but appeared to have had an intolerance to alcohol and the gas.

He said: “There are huge, huge risks in the use of inhalants and they can have a serious effect at any time.

“The risks are so substantial that anyone hearing of the death of Christopher Down will, it is hoped, learn important lessons, and the risks are not restricted to butane but to the whole gamut of recreational drugs.”