Butane gas killed my daughter after shops sold it to her on credit

 
Fatal addiction: Candy-Marie Ward and her mother Sharon Stevens
Lindsay Watling28 March 2013

A mother whose daughter died after inhaling two cans of butane gas on New Year’s Eve is campaigning for a law to prevent shops selling it in bulk.

Candy-Marie Ward, 29, of Wandsworth, who had been misusing the lighter refill substance since she was 14, suffered a cardiac arrest and stopped breathing on December 31 last year.

Her mother Sharon Stevens, 52, said despite her repeated pleas to shopkeepers in the area not to serve Miss Ward, some had continued to do so.

As a result, her daughter was able to stockpile boxes of 12 and 24 canisters at home and was even allowed to buy some on credit when she had no cash. Mrs Stevens, who visited one of the shops to show staff the death certificate, said: “They must have known what she was doing. Something must be done to make people more aware of it. There should be a law so that people can only buy one can at a time.”

Trying to make it harder for Miss Ward to get her hands on the gas was a last resort after several attempts at rehabilitation failed. She had kicked the habit for a while, but relapsed after her father Ray Ward died in 2011.

In desperation Mrs Stevens asked Wandsworth police to intervene but was told sales were at the discretion of individual shopkeepers, who can legally sell the gas to anyone over 18.

She said: “I knew if she didn’t come off it this was going to happen but you just keep hoping.”

Miss Ward, a mother of two, was at home with her partner Marc Fairfield and 14-year-old son when she collapsed. She died later that evening at St George’s Hospital in Tooting.

The post mortem examination gave the cause of death as cardiorespiratory arrest brought on by the effects of inhaling a volatile substance. A coroner ruled that Miss Ward’s death was the result of dependence on drugs.

Mrs Stevens said the addiction was under-reported, adding: “I want people to know what it will do to them.”

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