Thomas Townsend, a 16-year-old boy in Southeast England, was found dead in his room earlier this week. After some quick investigating, police discovered Tommy had over 40 used cans of body spray in his room [lead image via Shutterstock].

It was soon discovered what had killed him:

“The inquest, held in Folkestone Magistrates’ Court, Kent, today (Wednesday January 6), heard Thomas ‘succumbed to the effects of the gas’ on August 29 last year [source].”

In short, he died from inhaling too many fumes.

OK so having 40 cans lying about your room is obviously a sign that something, somewhere is wrong, but there were already much bigger clues. Like, for example, the fact that Thomas wouldn’t shower. Ever.

Tom’s mother Sarah explained that he would first soak himself in body spray and then in aftershave, rather than clean himself normally.

Speaking at the inquest, Sally Townsend said: ‘He would not take showers but would stand there with a deodorant and spray half the can on him.

‘Then he would spray aftershave to cover up BO.

‘He would go through a can a week. I didn’t know he had so many cans in his room but he was a big hoarder [source].’