A 14 year-old boy died almost instantly after sniffing lighter fuel, an inquest has heard.

Former altar boy Lee Anthony Maguire, died at his grandparents house in Carnforth on Easter Monday, just 10 days after his mother, Michelle Raby, had been sent to prison charged with dealing heroin following a major police operation.

The inquest heard that Lee had behavioral problems and boarded at a special school in Warrington.

He secretly took the lighter fuel upstairs to bed with him and later his grandmother, Margaret Raby, heard a loud bang and went to investigate.

She saw Lee collapsed on the floor and attempts were made by the family and paramedics to revive him.

Lee had a history of solvent abuse and Mrs Raby said they tried to keep potentially harmful substances away from him.

A post mortem revealed that he had died almost instantly.

Pathologist Alison Armour said that the inhalation of the lighter fuel would have caused either a massive heart attack or the collapse of his central nervous system.

Issuing a warning to others tempted to sniff solvents, Coroner George Howson said: "The deaths of young people are always tragic - if they are 14, then doubly so.

"I am satisfied that Lee returned home and on coming across a canister of lighter fuel he took it upstairs and shortly after sniffed it.

"That sniffing process proved almost immediately fatal. He was indulging in an experiment that resulted in his death."

A verdict of misadventure was recorded.