Mum’s warning after drugs kill teen at festival
Girl of 18 took two pills from ‘bad batch’ ... then had a fit for 45 minutes and died
A MOTHER is warning of the dangers of illegal drugs after her 18-year-old daughter collapsed and died when she took two pills at a music festival.
Janine Milburn, 41, said her daughter Georgia Jones suffered seizures for 45 minutes before her heart stopped several times in hospital and her lungs filled with blood and fluid.
Miss Jones, a care worker from Havant, Hampshire, was enjoying a day of dance music at the Mutiny Festival in Portsmouth when she fell ill at 7.10pm on Saturday.
She was taken to the city’s Queen Alexandra Hospital but could not be saved.
Tommy George Bakeer, 20, from Havant, collapsed in front of revellers 20 minutes after Miss Jones and also died.
Fifteen other festival-goers needed hospital treatment, although it is not clear if they were all drug-related.
Organisers had warned revellers of a ‘bad batch’ of high-strength drugs circulating the festival site and they cancelled yesterday’s final day as a ‘safety precaution.’
Writing on Facebook, healthcare assistant Mrs Milburn said her daughter’s death should serve as a warning to others tempted to take drugs.
She said: ‘Georgia died yesterday due to complications after taking two pills at Mutiny.
‘If nothing else, I hope what has happened to her will deter you from taking anything ever.
‘The pills had caused her temperature to rise so high it made her fit for 45 minutes. This then caused her muscle to break down and turn her blood acidic.
‘Her heart was irregular and stopped numerous times, and then her lungs filled with blood and fluid and I made the decision to turn everything off. My little girl was 18 and full of life. I just hope this stops at least some of you from ending up the same.’
About 30,000 people had been due to watch headliners Craig David and Sean Paul close the festival, held over two days in Portsmouth’s King George V playing fields. Revellers leaving the event on Saturday described seeing Mr Bakeer, a father of one, ‘dying’ on the floor while high on drugs.
Ashleigh Dennison, 22, from Worthing, West Sussex, said: ‘I was in the tent with my friends and it was obvious this boy was on drugs but he was having a good time. We didn’t know who he was, and he was on his own, but he was bouncing around enjoying himself and we were talking to him.
‘Then, 15 minutes later, he was completely gone. We had left the tent and he was on the ground.
‘All around his mouth it was blue, he was floppy and there was no response from him. His eyes were just white. I knew that was it, he was gone.
‘I think he was probably on pills or ketamine, perhaps MDMA because he was gurning. I couldn’t believe what I saw, it was scary. There’s so many people there on drugs or offering you drugs.’ Police had urged Portsmouth City Council to increase the minimum entry age at the festival from 16 to 18.
Organisers said there had been ‘revised entry procedures’ for this year’s event, although 16 and 17 year olds were still allowed to buy tickets.
On Thursday, Hampshire Police said they would be clamping down on drugs at the festival by taking a zero-tolerance approach to those caught with even small amounts of illegal drugs or psychoactive substances.
Superintendent Paul Bartolomeo warned: ‘If you are caught with these substances, you will, at the very least, be ejected and barred from returning to the site. You also run the risk of being arrested and receiving a criminal record.’
It is not clear what drug Miss Jones and the 20-year-old man had taken, although it is believed to have been a high-potency form of ecstasy, also known as MDMA.
On Saturday, the organisers of the Love Saves The Day festival in Bristol used social media to warn attendees of a batch of deadly pills, including one named ‘the Punisher’, which contains up to four times the typical expected dose of MDMA.