Two people died and another was in a critical condition on Sunday amid warnings that a “dangerous high strength” batch of drugs had been in circulation at a music festival in Hampshire.

Georgia Jones, 18, from Havant, was named by her mother on social media as one of those who died after taking drugs at the Mutiny festival in Portsmouth on Saturday night. Janine Milburn posted a tribute on Facebook saying that “my little girl was 18 and full of life” and urging young people to avoid drugs.



The other victim was 20-year-old Tommy Cowan, also reported to be from Havant.

According to the Portsmouth paper The News, his father, Damian Cowan, 43, said: “He was funny. He loved life and he loved his little boy. He was everything. He was a good lad – unfortunately he made a bad choice.”

With at least 15 festivalgoers admitted to hospital on Saturday night, the organisers cancelled the second day of the festival and issued a statement warning of a “dangerous high strength or bad batch substance on site”.

The hospital said in a statement that the admissions were “not necessarily all drugs-related”. Nonetheless, the deaths prompted renewed calls for all festivals to provide drug testing facilities, which proponents argue drastically reduce drug-related harm and hospitalisations.

Amid reports that the pills in question were so-called “silver Audi” high-strength ecstasy tablets, testing charity The Loop reported that it had seen the same pill at a testing facility at Love Saves the Day Festival in Bristol over the weekend.

While there were suggestions that the drugs may have been contaminated, two pills – which could include as much as 600mg of pure MDMA – is likely to be a potentially life-threatening dosage. In a social media post The Loop said that a batch currently in circulation contained “up to triple an average adult dose”, though it did not specify a link to the Portsmouth deaths.

The weekend’s deaths were being seen as separate incidents and were not being treated as suspicious, but Hampshire police said inquiries were being made to determine the circumstances.

Current ones in circulation are up to triple an average adult dose - start with quarter & regularly sip water. #JustSayKnow #TestNotArrest #TimeToTest https://t.co/ITwIDvqJ89 — The Loop (@WeAreTheLoopUK) May 27, 2018

Fiona Measham, a director of the drug testing charity, told the Guardian that the deaths marked “a sad start to the festival season”.

She called on other festivals to work with local authorities to provide the service, which is mainly staffed by volunteers and receives no government funding. The Mutiny festival does not currently offer drug testing facilities on site.

Niamh Eastwood, executive director of Release, a charity which calls for drug reform, also called for more drug testing at festivals.

“The reality is that some young people will take illegal drugs,” she said. “What we need in every venue and festival where this happens are services that can reduce the harms and potentially save lives.

“However, often what we see are zero tolerance policies rather than harm reduction policies which put people at greater risk.”

In her Facebook post about her daughter, Janine Milburn said that her daughter suffered a fit after the pills caused her temperature to rise significantly. She asked people to share her post, adding: “I just hope this stops at least some of you from ending up the same … the more people that know the more she can hopefully save.”

Festival organisers said they were devastated to hear of the loss of life and had taken the decision not to open the festival on Sunday as both a safety precaution and in respect to those who have passed. The decision was understood to have been taken on police advice. Craig David and Sean Paul were due to headline after Dizzee Rascal had topped the bill on Saturday.

“Everyone on the team is devastated,” Luke Betts, the festival organiser, told the Guardian. “We cancelled today’s event because we could not take the risk. Safety has to come first.

“We issued a harm prevention warning yesterday because several people went to hospital with drug-related symptoms and we wanted to be proactive.

Expressing his condolences to the families of those who died, he added: “As you can imagine, this decision was not taken lightly and was taken with the support of the local statutory authorities who we continue to work with.”

Addressing the issue of a lack of drug testing facilities, he said: “The safety of our festival family is of paramount importance to us and we employ many measures to prevent harm, including teams of safeguarding, welfare and healthcare professionals roaming on site as well as police and drugs dogs at the entrance.

“Unlike some of the bigger festivals who have started using drug testing options we’ve never had a real problem with drugs. However, this tragic weekend has clearly changed that.”

Betts added: “We will certainly talk to and encourage the relevant authorities to help bring this in for any future events or festivals. We back anything that could potentially minimise the risk to life and stop this tragedy from ever happening again.”

The festival, which admits 16- and 17-year-olds, has previously faced criticism from police over its procedures for ensuring that children were kept safe.

In 2017 Hampshire police asked Portsmouth city council to increase the minimum entry age to 18, saying that its faith in the organisers had been “seriously undermined” after senior officers “raised serious concerns with regards to the ability of children to attend the event”.

The criticism followed an incident where a 13-year-old was allegedly sexually assaulted.

The force had said ahead of the event that it would be clamping down on drugs, warning that it would search bags on entrance and adding: “Controlled drugs and psychoactive substances are not permitted.”



“Even just dabbling in illegal drugs and psychoactive substances can have catastrophic and fatal consequences,” superintendent Paul Bartolomeo said in a statement last week.

Police were first alerted when Georgia Jones fell ill at the site on Cosham at 7.10pm on Saturday, while the man was found collapsed at 7.30pm.



Both were taken to the Queen Alexandra hospital where they later died. Police said next-of-kin for both people had been informed and were being supported by specialist officers.

The organisers also urged customers to “responsibly dispose” of any substances.



Disappointed customers took to social media to demand refunds since the statement provided no such assurance.

Police have appealed for anyone with information to come forward. It is unclear whether there have been any arrests.