Drug clue to rock festival tragedy

Jun 25 2007 By Emma Cullwick, Birmingham Mail

PATHOLOGISTS were today examining the body of a West Midland man who died from a suspected drugs overdose at the Glastonbury Festival.

The 26-year-old, who has not been named, was taken to Yeovil District Hospital in the early hours of Saturday after being found unconscious by festival staff in the Park Farm area of the site in Somerset.

A spokesman for Avon and Somerset police said the man lost his fight for life on Saturday night.

"The death is believed to be drug-related and is not being treated as suspicious," said the spokesman.

Officers said crime at the festival was slightly down on 2005 but the number of arrests were "well up".

The spokesman said this increase was due to the "pro-active operation" of both police and security on site.

By 9am yesterday there had been 236 reported crimes, down on the 267 incidents at this time in 2005. Of these 158 were drug related, compared to 183 in 2005.

The main non-drug related crime continued to be theft from tents with 41 reported incidents - but with 30,000 more people on site than the last festival.

The festival closed last night with a set by The Who.