A FAMILY today issued an emotional warning after a teenager "with everything to live for" died from sniffing lighter fuel in a town centre toilet.

George Shankly, 17, wanted a career as a joiner and was looking forward to a holiday in Russia when he went to his mother's for tea the day before his death.

His body was found in a cubicle at Fuse Box, a Blackburn town centre drop-in centre run by the Nightsafe charity on September 8.

And today his family pleaded with other youngsters to think twice before they got involved in solvent abuse.

"We can't bring our boy back but hopefully other youngsters will learn from this," said

his grandmother Jacqueline Shankly.

George's mum Marion was too upset to talk after the inquest but Jacqueline said the family did not think George had ever sniffed lighter fuel before the day of his death.

"We hope other kids can realise that it is bigger to walk away than join in with this kind of thing," said Jacqueline.

Keith Owen, a manger for Lifeline, a drug advisory service working across East Lancashire, said: "If children were thinking of taking something like this, they should know it could kill them tomorrow.

"Although deaths from solvent abuse are not common, it can kill straight away because the amount needed to get high is similar to the amount that can kill."

Mr Owen said around 70 people die from the effects of solvent abuse every year.

At the time of his death, mum Marion said George, a former pupil of Bank Hey special school in Heys Lane, Blackburn, had moved out of home four weeks earlier because he wanted some independence. She said George was not academically gifted but was talented at woodwork and wanted to pursue a career in this field.

Marion said that with his recent moves towards independence, he seemed to have everything to live for, which made his death harder to take.

The inquest heard that George, of Heys Close, Blackburn, had gone to the Fuse Box, in Pilkington Street, where friend Tom Markland found him waiting outside for the centre to open. Mr Markland, of Infirmary Street, Blackburn, said George appeared to be fine and wasn't "drunk or anything."

He said George then pulled out a canister of lighter fuel. "I said, 'Don't do it, you shouldn't take it'," said Mr Markham. "George said to me, 'It's all right, it's my body'."

Recording a verdict of misadventure, deputy coroner Carolyn Singleton said she had heard evidence of a young man on the threshold of his adult life who, for whatever reason, decided to dabble with lighter fuel. "There is no evidence to suggest he had ever done this before and why he decided to do it on this day is a complete mystery," said Mrs Singleton. "I don't think for one moment he anticipated that it would end his life."

The inquest heard that police had been made aware of suggestions a youth in the Brookway area of Blackburn claimed to have assaulted George. Detective Constable Keith Rimmer said: "We eventually spoke to the lad who had been named as responsible. He admitted he had told some of the kids on the estate he had been at the Fuse Box but he denied any assault. We were able to confirm that he had been at the job centre at the relevant time."