A grieving father appealed today for young people in Northern Ireland to stop throwing their lives away after his daughter died from aerosol abuse.

Anna Elizabeth Peake, 16, suffered a heart attack after inhaling two cans of deodorant. Her inquest heard she was the latest in a long line to die in similar circumstances.

Her father David, a former drug addict, tried desperately to save her at her east Belfast home.

After the Belfast session, he said: "I do have great concerns that, as the coroner (Brian Sherrard) said, a long line of young people are actually practising this practice of taking solvent abuse.

"The danger of of it is that it (death) can be instant. We really didn't have a clue that she had been taking it long-term."

Anna and boyfriend Sam Bell had been taking the substances for several months before her May 2008 death. They lived at her divorced mother Maureen Peake's home in Govan Drive, Tullycarnet. Mr Peake was visiting his children at the time.

Mr Sherrard said: "Anna's death was one of a tragically long line of deaths of young girls and boys in these kind of circumstances and the message really has to go out as we have heard from Dr (James) Lyness that this is an exceptionally dangerous practice and that people are vulnerable to suffering from oxygen deprivation and also from heart attacks whenever they indulge in this practice. It is something that has to be very carefully monitored."

He said there came a point when people had to trust their children. Anna was almost an adult, having left school and was hoping to become a policewoman.

Her boyfriend came home from work at a fast food restaurant with six canisters of deodorant costing 99p each and they lay in the bedroom inhaling by the light of the television.

Mr Bell, who failed to appear at the inquest, described the victim's last moments after she had spent up to three quarters of an hour inhaling through a rag.

In a written statement, he said: "She sat up very suddenly and then fell back onto the pillow, her eyes had rolled back and her lips went a strange colour."

Her father said she was like a rag doll when he rushed to help and gave her mouth-to-mouth resuscitation until paramedics arrived. They worked on her for an hour but were unable to save her.

Pathologist Dr Lyness said the cause of death was inhaling a lethal mixture of propane, butane and isobutane, which are used to propel the substances from their container.

He was asked about the use of adrenaline to treat people suffering from a heart attack in these circumstances by the girl's father.

"It is recognised Professor (Jennifer) Adgey, a retired professor from the Royal, recommends that adrenaline should not be used or should be avoided in (cardiac) arrest situations where there is evidence of volatile substance abuse.

"It is a particularly strenuous situation for paramedics to be involved in."

Her mother was away visiting a friend when the accident happened. She had chastised her daughter before about inhaling nail polish and her father said he noticed tell-tale signs shortly before her death.

Giving evidence to the inquest, Mrs Peake said: "I would describe Anna as a good kid, she would do anything for you and had a very bubbly personality.

"She always had a smile on her face and seemed very popular."

The coroner found inhaling butane, isobutane and propane caused the death.