Teenager died 'sniffing gas'

An inquest opened yesterday on a church-going teenager who had just won a role in an anti-drugs play and who is believed to have died after sniffing lighter gas.

Chantelle Bleau, 16, collapsed at a friend's house on Monday after sniffing the gas and died in hospital. She had just won a role in a play, Deadly Deals, which has been on tour at schools in her home city of Bradford, west Yorkshire. She and her parents, Richard and Pat Bleau, were members of the Abundant Life Church, where she sang in the choir and helped in the creche.

The inquest was opened and adjourned yesterday.

Mrs Bleau told a local paper that she and her husband were told Chantelle had fallen and bumped her head at a friend's house.

She arrived at the hospital as staff were trying to revive Chantelle. Neither she nor her husband knew that Chantelle experimented with drugs.