Mother’s plea after festival drug death
Georgia Jones, 18, named as one of two dead after festival organisers warned of ‘bad batch substance’
The mother of an 18-year-old care home worker who was killed by a “bad batch” of drugs at a music festival has said her daughter’s death must deter others from taking illicit substances. Janine Milburn said her daughter Georgia Jones was “18 and full of life” and that she hoped her death would stop other young people “ending up the same”. The teenager was one of two people who died at Mutiny Festival in Portsmouth, the other being a 20-yearold man. Several were hospitalised.
THE mother of an 18-year-old care home worker who was killed by a “bad batch” of drugs at a music festival has said her daughter’s death must deter others from taking illicit substances.
Janine Milburn, a healthcare assistant at a care home for the elderly, said her daughter Georgia Jones was “18 and full of life” and that she hoped her death would stop other young people “ending up the same”.
The teenager was one of two people who died at Mutiny Festival, the other being a 20-year-old man.
A third person is in a critical condition and 12 others were taken to hospital on Saturday night.
The deaths at the Portsmouth festival are being treated as separate incidents and are not being treated as suspicious. However, Hampshire Constabulary said inquiries were being made to determine the circumstances. Organisers said on Saturday night they were aware of drugs that could be dangerously strong or a “bad batch” on site. At the time, the festival tweeted a post entitled “Harm prevention alert”, which said: “Festival family – we are aware of a dangerous high strength or bad batch substance on site.
“We strongly urge you to not take any substances whatsoever and to report any symptoms of illness/discomfort immediately to medical, welfare, security or the safeguarding team. Please stay alert and look out for each other.”
Yesterday morning, they announced the festival was cancelled for safety reasons.
Ms Jones followed in her mother’s footsteps, also working at a care home, until her sudden death. The full details of her death were laid out in tragic detail on Facebook by Mrs Milburn.
She wrote: “As I have now spoken to family members I can now say Georgia died yesterday due to complications after taking two pills at Mutiny.
“If nothing else I hope what happened to her will deter you from taking anything ever.
“The pills has 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.
“Please share, the more people that know the more she can hopefully save.”
Dizzee Rascal, Craig David and Sean Paul topped the bill at the two-day event that was due to end yesterday.
The festival said in a statement: “Following the terrible news from earlier today, the team behind Mutiny Festival are incredibly sad to announce that the
‘If nothing else I hope what happened to her will deter you from taking anything ever’
Sunday of the festival has been cancelled as a safety precaution… Enquiries are being made into the circumstances of what has happened, but we must reiterate our advice to all our customers to responsibly dispose of any substances.”
Police were first alerted to Ms Jones falling ill at the site in King George V Playing Fields, Cosham at 7.10pm on Saturday evening. She was taken to Queen Alexandra Hospital, Portsmouth, where she later died.
The man was found collapsed around 7.30pm.
The force appealed for anyone with information to come forward, and said: “The deaths are being treated as separate incidents at this stage.
They are not being treated as suspicious but inquiries are being made to determine the circumstances of what happened in each case.”