Dad’s plea to litterbugs fuelling son’s cigarette butt habit

A desperate dad is begging smokers not to drop their fag butts outside his home after his son became addicted – to eating them. Jay Easthope, 25, suffers from pica – a rare brain disorder – which means he craves the taste of cigarette ends.

Dad Gordon, 66, regularly has to run after his son who can’t resist scoffing discarded ciggies. Gordon is now urging smokers not to drop their fags near his home in Whitefriars, Coventry.



He said: ”It can be incredibly dangerous for me and Jay. If he spots a cigarette butt in the road in the morning he’ll remember where it is in the evening. Even if its dark he’ll find it and he’s like a rocket. He won’t look left and right, he’ll just head straight for the road.

”He’s 14-and-a-half stone and when he wants something he’s virtually impossible to stop.” Pica is a rare brain disorder linked to autism. Sufferers often become obsessed with strange tastes like clay, soil, chalk and even faeces.