Leeds Festival steps up anti-drugs measures after David Celino death

Measures will be brought in to "weed out" drug dealers at Leeds Festival after the death of a teenager at last year's event, an inquest has heard.

David Celino, 16, died in hospital on 28 August 2022, after taking MDMA.

His father, Gianpiero Celino, previously told the inquest into his son's death that he feared the festival was not safe for under-18s.

Melvin Benn, from Leeds Festival, told the hearing new measures would include more search dogs and "support hubs".

Giving evidence on the second day of the hearing at Wakefield Coroner's Court, Mr Benn told Mr Celino's parents he felt "genuine sorrow" over their son's death.

Mr Benn, managing director of Festival Republic which organises the event, said there had been three drug-related deaths at the festival in the past five years.

He said the deaths "take an emotional toll on myself and all of my staff".

This year's festival would have a new anti-drugs operation alongside security activities, he told coroner Kevin McLoughlin.

"They will operate a drugs operation aimed at weeding out dealers and having them removed from site, that's a very significant change," he said.

There would also be visible support hubs and "the intention is that no camper will be more than 200m from one," he said.

Search dogs would also be present at every entrance this year, the court heard.

He said Mr Celino's evidence had "struck home" and he was aware of the risks of under-18s being potentially vulnerable to drugs at the festival.

Organisers would this year be monitoring how many under-18s were attending the festival, but he said any who were unaccompanied should not be banned.

Councillor James Gibson, chair of Leeds City Council's licensing committee, told the inquest it would be "very unlikely it would be achievable" for the council to ban unaccompanied youngsters.

He said the licensing committee had been "impressed" by Festival Republic's recent efforts to improve security at the event.

The coroner had previously called for Leeds City Council to consider ruling that under 18s should be accompanied by an adult following the death in 2019 of 17-year-old Anya Buckley.

A spokesperson for Festival Republic told the hearing the O2 Academy in Leeds did not prohibit unaccompanied under 18s and neither did other festivals across the UK.

The inquest continues.

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