Lock lethal LPG substance away - victim's mum

Nathan Cunningham of Christchurch died after inhaling LPG.

The mother of the late Nathan Cunningham, a victim of LPG huffing, says the dangerous gas should be locked up in homes and shops.

Nathan died in 2007, aged 14, the youngest of three children. He suffocated on his own vomit after inhaling LPG.

He had taken the lethal substance from the family's garage.

His mother, Anne Wroblenski, of Christchurch, supports the idea of a minimum purchase age to prevent children from buying LPG, butane and other huffing substances and urges retailers to lock them up in their stores.

But she said that not all products containing potentially fatal solvents could realistically be locked away.

"It's also in air fresheners and things like that. They can't lock everything up.

"I think kids need to be educated, as well as their parents. Keep all your LPG under lock and key, somewhere they [children] haven't got access to," she said.

"Be more aware of kids acting strange and find out more of what they are getting up to, even if it means spying on them, because you just never know."

Ms Wroblenski said Nathan's death had taken a terrible, ongoing toll on her, on Nathan's sister, now aged 25, and brother, 22.

"It's been devastating."