Magnets death of boy aged eight prompts warning over TikTok trend

An eight-year-old boy who died after he swallowed ten magnets may have been following a dangerous social media craze, a coroner has ruled.

Rhys Millum died after his small ­intestine was perforated by ten 3mm silver spherical magnets, which had stuck together to form a long chain in his bowel.

Despite being in agony for three days before he died, the boy told no one about what he had done. The ­magnets were not discovered until a post-mortem examination, the inquest at Northallerton coroner’s court was told.

Rhys’s mother, Andrea Boyd, from Harrogate, North Yorkshire, said in ­evidence: “We did try to brainstorm why he would put them into his mouth. Someone mentioned this TikTok thing and thought it might be that.”

She said she understood the magnets had featured on TikTok as a “fake ­piercing challenge”, whereby participants put one magnet on the outside of the cheek and the other on the inside of the cheek to give the appearance of a piercing.

NHS leaders have called for these small magnets to be banned after ­dozens of children who had attempted the “challenge” were taken to hospital with serious intestinal problems.

A forensic examination of Rhys’s ­tablet found he did not have a TikTok account but the coroner noted it was possible to watch TikTok videos on other platforms such as YouTube.

Police also found a video of a conversation between Rhys and his brother on the trampoline in which the siblings discussed boosting their social media profiles by doing stunts that were “a bit daredevil … like drinking hot sauce”. The video was recorded on September 19, 2022, ten days before Rhys ­became ill.

Richard Millum, his father, said Rhys had owned the magnets for about a month. “There are quite a lot of them and they market them as a toy,” he said. “Rhys was very hands-on and loved physical board games. He loved those magnets. He was messing around with them all the time.

“We would be at my mum’s for dinner and they would appear out of his pocket. Sometimes he would be playing with 30 or 40 of them at a time.”

The court was told that the magnets were among several toys that had been given to Rhys and his brother by a family friend after a clear-out of their house.

The magnets are marketed as a ­creative toy that can be arranged into sculptures, the hearing was told.

Recording a conclusion of misadventure, Catherine Cundy, coroner for North Yorkshire and York, said: “I do note [the police] found a video of him playing with his brother, ten, showing Rhys was at least aware of the concept of social media challenges and would have had access to social media platforms like YouTube and may have seen people using magnets in this way.

“This was a wholly tragic series of events. Rhys did not understand the dangers of swallowing these magnets and did not tell anyone he had ­swallowed them or link them to his symptoms.

“I know these magnetic balls are legal to sell. I hope the tragedy of Rhys’s death will at least highlight the dangers, particularly to children who might swallow them, accidentally or deliberately, without being aware of the ­dangers.”