Leeds Festival founder rules out ban on teenagers after tragic ecstasy death

The founder and organiser of the Leeds Festival has told an inquest he doesn't believe unaccompanied 16 and 17 year-olds should be banned despite the death of a teenager who took ecstasy, as he revealed he lost a nephew to drugs.

David Celino, 16, from Salford, who was celebrating exam results with friends, died after he was taken ill at the festival in August last year, an inquest hearing at Wakefield Coroner's Court has heard.

His father, Gianpiero Celino, told the inquest on Tuesday of concerns he has for teens at music festivals, claiming they are prey to drug dealers who act like 'the child catcher from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang'.

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Melvin Benn, managing director of Festival Republic, had to compose himself as he became emotional shortly after he began giving his evidence at the inquest on Wednesday.

He told David's parents of his “genuine sorrow” at their son’s death and after becoming visibly upset revealed that he, too, had lost a nephew to drugs. He told the court that David’s death had “taken an emotional toll on myself and all of my staff, no question about that”.

The inquest has heard that David had gone to the festival, which attracts more than 90,000 people every summer to Bramham Park, near Leeds, with five friends from their homes in Worsley, Salford.

He became ill after taking ecstasy, which his group bought from a dealer in the Camping Plus area of the festival, and died after being taken to hospital in Leeds.

His father, pharmacist Mr Celino, said in evidence on Tuesday he believed the organisers did not do enough to stop drug dealing at the site which, he alleged, took place openly.

Mr Benn told the