Boy, 13, with severe dairy allergy died after another pupil threw cheese at him

A 13-YEAR-OLD boy with a severe dairy allergy died after another pupil threw cheese at him, an inquest heard today.

Teen Karanbir Singh Cheema went into anaphylactic shock when the slice – half the size of a post-it note – was flicked at him at William Perkin Church of England High School in West London in June 2017.

Despite paramedics rushing to the scene, the teen tragically died about two weeks later.

Poplar Coroners’ Court today heard evidence from the boy, then aged 13, threw the cheese at the young student from about a foot away.

The boy, who cannot be named, apologised to Karanbir’s family, telling the court: “I didn’t mean any harm – I’m sorry, I’m sorry for what I did.”

A second boy who passed the cheese over said although he knew Karanbir, known as Karan, was allergic to something, he didn’t know cheese was dairy.

He said he and Karan were acquaintances on “neutral” terms, adding: “I knew he was allergic to some things, dairy and pollen.

“At the time I didn’t know dairy was cheese – milk and yoghurt, I would say that was dairy.”

The teen was then probed by Senior Coroner Mary Hassell, who  asked: “At the time, what did you think having an allergy meant for Karan? What did you think would happen?”

The boy said: “I thought maybe he would get a fever or a rash and miss school for a while… I didn’t know it could lead to death.”

The coroner was told that Karan had told the boy about his allergy when they first met.

The inquest heard the boy who threw the cheese would thrown food at other pupils “daily” and had thrown a banana skin at someone earlier that day.

‘GASPING FOR AIR’

He added he knew Karan was allergic to bread but was unaware of his dairy allergy.

The student, now 15, said: “From a past incident I knew that he was allergic to bread but that’s all I knew – someone was eating a sandwich next to him and he asked them to move.”

He said he believed the cheese had landed on Karan’s neck.

The teen said: “After that Karan just told me ‘I’m allergic to cheese – I apologised then after that.”

The coroner asked: “Why did you flick the cheese at him?”

He said: “I don’t know, if was usual behaviour in year 8” adding later “we would play games with whatever we had, that being food”.

I didn’t mean any harm – I’m sorry, I’m sorry for what I did

Student who threw the cheese

The student said he had been confused when he was called to the principal’s office when Karan collapsed.

Paramedics were alerted to the school when Karan fell ill, told it was “just an allergic reaction”.

However, when they arrived they saw the student was “gasping for air” and had broken out in hives.

The staff had already administered two spoons of piriton, an epipen and given him his inhaler but shortly after paramedics arrived Karan stopped breathing.

The first two paramedics began to perform CPR on the young boy, gave him adrenaline and used a defibrillator while they waited for back-up to arrive.

Karan, described as “so bright he could have been anything he wanted”, was brought to Great Ormond Street Hospital but died ten days later on July 9 with his family by his side.

A statement from Karan’s mother Rina was read out, with the mum saying he had been “diligent” about his allergies and skin condition.

Mrs Cheema said: “The consultant didn’t think this was responsible- contact with the skin would not have caused this bad a reaction.

“In her 30 years in medicine she was confident that a child wouldn’t have an anaphylactic reaction with something going down his neck.”

The inquest, expected to last three days, continues.