Loyalist's support for McDowell family

He said: "This tragedy has left the family devastated and I wanted to contact them directly to express my deepest sympathies. The family are understandably upset that the cause of young Jordan's death was a gas in balloons that are sold freely in shops and that are often bought for young children"

The family were keen for the Londonderry man to help raise the profile of the issue and to argue for legislation to regulate the sale of helium to help prevent any more accidents such as this.

Sadly, the family have also had to deal with further upset in the form of inappropriate messages and images on a well known social networking site following the death.

Mr Gardiner said: "At this difficult time when the family need as much support as possible, this type of inappropriate message is something they can do without. This again raises questions about how social networking sites are monitored as well as demonstrating the hurt they can cause."

He said he would help the Newtownabbey family in any way he could to raise awareness about both issues.