11-year-old Lancaster boy 'taken in an instant' by social media craze
Tommie-Lee Gracie Billington was found unresponsive on Saturday
Last updated 7th Mar 2024
The family of an 11-year-old boy who died in Lancaster have issued a warning to parents about social media.
Emergency services were called to reports of a boy being unresponsive at an address on Greenset Close on Saturday. It's understood Police are treating his death as 'unexplained'.
It's reported that Tommie-Lee Gracie Billington had been attempting a craze on social media known as 'chroming' - in which a person inhales toxic gas for a temporary high.
In a post on Facebook his grandmother, Tina Burns, has said the family are "utterly devastated", and are now calling for tighter social media controls. She is also reminding people to check parental controls on devices.
A GoFundMe page has been set up, to raise money to pay for his funeral. The fund has so far raised over two-and-a-half thousand pounds.