JUNE Buffham’s loving husband thought little of it when he bought a packet of cheap cigarettes off his pal at the pub to share with his wife.
But after the fateful decision saw the 71-year-old endure a sickening and shocking death, her devastated family are on a mission to reveal the deadly hidden dangers behind , which are being .
June Buffham died after smoking an illegal cigaretteCredit: Supplied
June’s daughter Julie Grant wants people to know about the dangers of the illicit productsCredit: Supplied
Cops have launched a fresh series of nation-wide raids on shops flogging illegal fagsCredit: PP.
Sitting in her chair smoking as she watched the soaps, June had settled in for a night in front of the telly while her husband, Peter, popped out to see friends in his local pub.
The mum-of-three was smoking Jin Ling , not knowing that they were illicit and didn’t have the same safety regulations as regulated UK brands.
It meant that when she fell asleep and her cigarette dropped into the armchair, instead of quickly burning out, it continued to burn and set fire to her chair, engulfing her in flames.
Chillingly, as police across the UK launch a fresh wave of crackdowns against the , a string of deaths like June’s have been linked to house fires stemming from the counterfeit products.
“The lady who made the 999 call said she could see a fireball on the right-hand side of the living room, and that was my mum and her chair,” Julie Grant, June’s daughter, told The Sun.
“My parents had no idea how dangerous the cigarettes were when my dad bought them off a friend down the pub.
“Jin Ling cigarettes look a lot like Camel. My dad was devastated by my mum’s death and felt that it was his fault – even though he’d never have bought them if he knew they were illicit, let alone dangerous.
“I don’t want anyone else to go through this simply because they didn’t know how dangerous these cigarettes are.”
In the and , cigarettes are required to be made from fire-retardant paper, including multiple bands, each containing less porous paper – with the idea being that this makes the cigarette extinguish at these points.
They can only be overridden if a user inhales while actively smoking. It means that, when left unattended, the cigarette burns out rather than staying lit until there is no more paper.
This is also the case for cigarettes in the USA , , and .
However, from other countries and counterfeit cigarettes – some of which have been found to contain dead flies and asbestos – do not have these features, making them more likely to start a fire.
“Mum was an incredibly loving person,” Julie said.
“She spent our early years being at home caring for us, providing hot meals at lunch time as in those days you’d go home.
“When she was in her 50s she had a few strokes and her deteriorated in her 60s leaving her with limited mobility.
“My dad did so much with her, and once a week he’d go to see friends at the pubs while she caught up on her at home.
“That night, dad had left her with her phone, snacks and had been at the pub for around 40 minutes before a friend told him he needed to go home as there was a fire.
“My husband and I were called by to come to the station at around 10pm and when we got there, my dad told me mum had died.”
This is all that was left of the chair June had been sitting in while watching TV in 2012Credit: Lincolnshire County Council
The fire that killed June damaged the rest of the living roomCredit: supplied
June’s husband had been away for less than 40 minutes when the blaze broke outCredit: supplied
June died in April 2012 in a house fire in Spalding, Lincs, and fire investigators found a packet of Jin Ling cigarettes, allowing them to conclude they were the cause of the fire.
Devastatingly, June’s body was so badly burned that she had to be identified using her dental records.
“We looked towards where mum would have been sitting and there was nothing, absolutely nothing, just a bit of charred wood on the floor, a burnt area of carpet,” said Julie, who works for a national .
“The picture stays with you. It’s an image that will never go.”
June and her husband had been married for over 50 years when she diedCredit: Julie Grant
She had been smoking Jin Ling cigarettes, which are illicit tobacco
June and Peter were both smokers and had no idea the cigarettes they’d bought were unsafeCredit: Julie Grant
Heartbreak over string of deaths
Four years after June’s death, three men died in a house fire in the town after dropping an on the bed while drinking.
Marian Laczynski, Pawel Lazarewicz and Sylwester Grabczewsk had brought back imported cigarettes from Eastern Europe, which had writing on them.
The same year, Barbara Rankilor died after being seriously burned in a fire in , , from an illicit cigarette without the safety feature to self-extinguish.
The 75-year-old had limited mobility, and an investigation concluded she had dropped the lit cigarette into a bin of combustible material.
Then in 2022, Kenneth Allen, 88, died in a blaze in Sutton, South , after dropping an illicit cigarette, branded by the fire service as a non-RIP cigarette (Reduced Ignition Propensity), into his commode causing the fire.
Three men died in a house fire in Spalding four years after June’s death in 2012Credit: SWNS
“Talking about what happened to my mum and hearing about other people is really hard,” Julie said.
“But I promised my dad before he passed away that while I’ve got breath in my body, I’ll keep trying to stop it happening to other people, and keep talking about it.
“People need to know that this could be your mum, your grandma, your neighbour. It could be anyone who buys these cheap cigarettes.
“It’s hard to explain how awful it is to have this happen to you, to see photos of what was left behind of my mum’s chair.
“Smokers are always going to want to get hold of cigarettes, but cheap illicit ones are brought in by unscrupulous people and funding organised .
“It’s not worth it.”
Nationwide crackdowns
Last month saw a nationwide crackdown on people selling illicit cigarettes and counterfeit vapes.
The illegal market is costing the government £2.2billion in lost tax revenue.
Between April 2023 and March 2024, Trading Standards and police forces across the UK recovered 1.36billion illegal cigarettes, which equates to a revenue value of £678million.
Illicit and illegal cigarettes take multiple forms – it can be stolen cigarettes intended for other markets, cartons stolen that were headed to stores and then sold on illegally, and counterfeit cigarettes made by organised crime gangs.
Across the UK, 920 people were arrested, 340 notices for illegal working and rented were issued by authorities, and 2,734 High Street premises visited in a recent month-long crackdown.
Forces seized over £10.7million in criminal proceeds, including millions of illegal tobacco and vapes, over half a million pounds in cash, and 70kg of .
Police forces have been cracking down on illegal cigarettesCredit: PP.
Illicit and illegal cigarettes are thought to cost the Government £2.2billion in lost tax revenueCredit: PP.
Tackling dodgy tobacco has become a priority in recent years, with corner shops springing up across the country selling it, with proceeds often going into organised crime.
Professor Emmeline Taylor, a criminologist at City St George’s University of London, told The Sun: “Criminals might be focusing on smuggled, stolen and counterfeit tobacco because it’s lucrative, and the risks are low.
“But if that market were shut down, many would simply move on to other crimes such as drugs, firearms, or trafficking. These are career criminals, not opportunists.
“You don’t set up a counterfeit tobacco operation or smuggle on the scale needed to supply a whole town unless you’re deeply embedded in organised crime.”
Touching tribute
Ten years after June died, Council launched Operation June with Julie to highlight the dangers of illicit tobacco.
“When they called to tell me I was in floods of tears, it’s such a fitting tribute,” she said.
The lady who made the 999 call said she could see a fireball on the right-hand side of the living room, and that was my mum and her chair
Julie Grant, June's daughter
But Julie’s work doesn’t stop there. She is calling for the Government to do more to discourage people from buying cheaper cigarettes.
“I think more needs to be done to make people aware of all the dangers,” she said.
“Trading Standards are doing everything they can, but they’re overwhelmed.
“So many of these shops selling them are popping up everywhere. They don’t even sell a loaf of bread or fresh food. They’re making so much profit from these illicit cigarettes.
“I think the Government should do an advertising campaign or something to raise awareness of the dangers. These cigarettes aren’t just a cheap alternative that come with no harm.”
