Mum’s plea after daughter, 13, died copying social media trend

The mother of a girl who died copying a “horrible” social media trend is calling for children to be taught the dangers of solvent abuse.

Sonia Hopkin was “heartbroken” after the death of her 13-year-old daughter Teagan Jarman, who was found unconscious in her bedroom in Thurmaston, Leicestershire, on March 6.

Ms Hopkin said she died while participating in an online trend called chrome plating, copying videos she saw on TikTok.

A petition has now been launched calling for mandatory lessons on solvent abuse to be introduced in schools.

Mrs Hopkin, who lives in Leicester, said Teagan was pronounced dead at the scene after she was found unconscious at her father's home.

The 45-year-old believes her “outgoing and fun-loving” daughter was part of a trend she saw on TikTok of people snorting or inhaling toxic fumes.

Ms Hopkin, a paramedic at Leicester Royal Infirmary, said she burst into tears when she found out what had happened to her daughter.

“When you hear other stories in the newspapers, you always think it's someone else's family, not your own,” she said.

“This is just my worst nightmare. I was heartbroken and have been that way ever since.”

Ms Hopkin now wants to raise awareness of “the dangers of this terrible trend”.

In addition to calling for lessons to be learned from solvent abuse, the petition also calls for regulations requiring manufacturers to place warnings on packaging.

Ms Hopkin said: “We hope schools can teach not only the dangers of household chemicals, but also the dangers of the internet.

“We just want people to know so that no one else has to go through this terrible tragedy.”

Ms Hopkin also called on TikTok to do more to prevent actions such as chrome plating from becoming trends.

“It’s surprising that these videos aren’t being removed,” she said. “I can't understand why anyone would want to share such nonsense.

“One video would be bad, but the fact that it became a trend is incredible. It should not be available on the Internet.”

The British Aerosol Manufacturers' Association said products should already have several warning labels on packaging, but added that a new message using “better language” to explain the risks would be introduced in 2026.

A TikTok spokesperson said: “We are deeply saddened by this tragic incident and our thoughts are with the family.

“TikTok does not allow content that promotes dangerous challenges, and we proactively removed 99.8% of videos that violated our policies on this issue before they were reported to us.

“Search for this particular call is blocked and we have found no evidence that this was ever a trend on our platform.”