Find who delivered industrial levels of this gas to my girl
Mum calls for cop probe into nitrous oxide death
THE grieving mum of laughing gas victim Ellen Mercer last night urged police to investigate her daughter’s death.
Sharon Cook, 54, wants a probe into suppliers following an inquest which heard how business student Ellen died at just 24 after becoming addicted to the party drug.
In a victory for the Mirror, Instagram has banned sellers who we revealed were offering to deliver supersize canisters of laughing gas in just 20 minutes.
Now Sharon says detectives should find whoever sold the gas to her girl while she was ill.
The distraught mother said: “They were delivering industrial levels of nitrous oxide to a young woman in a residential address – why was no one checking on this?
“She was getting two to three canisters a day. Surely it should have raised red flags. Someone needs to be held responsible so we can have closure and justice.”
Ellen’s death was related to long
term complications of nitrous oxide use, a coroner said at her inquest this week. Berkshire coroner Heidi Connor heard Ellen had required urgent medical care several times in the month leading to her death after complaining of leg and back pain.
She had suffered a B12 deficiency and spinal cord degeneration as a result of her habit and was left lying in bed in crippling pain and unable to move or go to the toilet.
The inquest found Ellen had been bingeing on two to three 600g bottles a day, each equivalent to 75 of the usual 8g doses. At the time of her death in February last year, it was not illegal to supply the huge nitrous oxide canisters, some with vape-style flavours, which claim to be used in the catering industry.
But possessing laughing gas to get high became a crime later last year when the substance was made a Class C drug.
In an exclusive interview with the Mirror, Sharon said she spoke to her daughter days before she was admitted to hospital and begged her to get help.
Ellen had moved in with her boyfriend in a rented flat in Woodford Green,
East London, and Sharon said she wished her daughter had been living at home, adding: “I would never have let it get so bad.”
Sharon, who lives with her two other children, Joe, 27, and Daisy, 13, said: “I had spoken to her two days before she died. I urged her to go to the hospital because she had been like that for a couple of days.
“Then when I tried calling she didn’t answer. The first I heard of nitrous oxide was when the doctor rang to tell me she was dead.
“I remember that call, the tone of his voice. He said she had long-term abuse of nitrous oxide and had suffered a heart attack. I can still hear him. It was just a shock, it was 1am. It ripped my world to pieces.
“I wish she had been living at home. I would have got her help. She was hiding her addiction from me, I didn’t realise how serious it was.”
Sharon also called for a Government clampdown and said nitrous oxide should be made a Class A drug like heroin or cocaine.
Paying tribute to her daughter, Sharon said: “She was bright, clever, funny. I miss her every day.”
Yesterday, we told how Instagram users had access to a 24/7 delivery service to locations in Manchester, London and across the UK. We passed the findings to its parent company, Meta.
A spokesman said: “It’s against our rules for people to sell drugs on our platforms and we have removed the violating content.”
Sharon, from Chalfont St Peter, Bucks, praised the Mirror’s probe, saying: “This is important work. These pages should never appear on social media sites.”