Sylvia Townsend: tragedy of sniffing substances

Chief Inspector George Barr said a 24-year-old man has been reported for supplying an intoxicating substance to a person under the age of 18.

A police spokesman added Nikita and some of her friends bought lighter fuel from a shop while playing truant from Walton Community College, Peterborough.

The schoolgirl collapsed on waste ground near to the school.

Two girls and two boys she was with raised the alarm and she was taken to Peterborough District Hospital but died an hour later.

Experimentation

Ms Townsend said: "I don't know and probably never will know what Nikita was doing.

"I know that experimentation is part of growing up, but I want to warn parents and young people alike - don't let another young person die.

"If another child is thinking of experimenting I would urge them to please think carefully about what they are doing. You do not know the harm it will cause you. Just look at what it did to Nikita.

"I hope that if anything Nikita's death will have shocked her friends and young people enough to stop them ever thinking about doing this."