Mutiny Festival inquest: Teenager died after taking two '˜double-strength' ecstasy pills

A TEENAGER who took two '˜double-strength' ecstasy tablets at a major music festival near Portsmouth died after fitting for 50 minutes, an inquest has heard.
An inquest is being held into the death of Georgia Jones, who died at Mutiny FestivalAn inquest is being held into the death of Georgia Jones, who died at Mutiny Festival
An inquest is being held into the death of Georgia Jones, who died at Mutiny Festival

Georgia Jones, 18, was one of two festival-goers from Havant who died after taking drugs at the Mutiny Festival in Cosham on May 26, the hearing was told.

A further inquest will be held later this week into the death of 20-year-old Tommy Cowan.

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Detective Constable Sharon Lewry, of Hampshire police, said that Miss Jones collapsed at the festival and began fitting.

An inquest is being held into the death of Georgia Jones, who died at Mutiny FestivalAn inquest is being held into the death of Georgia Jones, who died at Mutiny Festival
An inquest is being held into the death of Georgia Jones, who died at Mutiny Festival

She was taken to the Queen Alexandra Hospital in Cosham where she died despite attempts by the medical teams to save her.

Det Con Lewry said that Miss Jones had told friends she had taken two ecstasy tablets and a bag of MDMA powder was found in her bumbag.

She said: '˜Georgia took two tablets not knowing they were double strength. It's likely the strength of the drugs she had taken were too strong for her body to handle.'

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Det Con Lewry said the festival, which cancelled the second day of the event, had been criticised for not carrying out enough security checks but she said a number of unused condoms were found in the toilets suggesting drugs had been smuggled on to the site in people's bodies and '˜would not have been found by the security'.

Georgia Jones and Tommy Cowan who died after falling unwell at Mutiny Festival 2018Georgia Jones and Tommy Cowan who died after falling unwell at Mutiny Festival 2018
Georgia Jones and Tommy Cowan who died after falling unwell at Mutiny Festival 2018

Five people arrested on suspicion of supplying Class A drugs were released under investigation.

The Portsmouth inquest heard that Miss Jones' mother, Janine Milburn, 41, was alerted that her daughter had fallen ill and rushed to the festival site in time to go in the ambulance with her to hospital.

She said that she found out that her daughter had previously taken drugs but had stopped after starting work as a care assistant for people with learning and physical difficulties.

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She said: '˜She had got into the wrong crowd. She had stopped taking anything and sorted herself out after she had changed jobs.'

New Georgia Jones pic 1

Georgia JonesNew Georgia Jones pic 1

Georgia Jones
New Georgia Jones pic 1 Georgia Jones

Describing her daughter, she added: '˜She was a typical teenager, talkative, stubborn, argumentative, very caring, very family and friend orientated.'

Home Office pathologist Dr Brett Lockyer said Miss Jones had a temperature of 41 degrees when she arrived at the hospital and died of MDMA intoxication.

He said she had '˜extremely high' levels of MDMA in her body with a reading of 3,856 nano-grams per millilitre of blood.

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He told Ms Milburn: '˜Once Georgia went into a seizure she wouldn't have known much of what was going on. Although it was distressing for you to see that, she wouldn't have known what was going on.'

He added: '˜She had quite widespread brain damage. Had Georgia survived this she would have not have been the same person she was before.'

The two-day hearing was adjourned until Tuesday.