Anya Buckley died after taking a ‘cocktail of drugs’ at Leeds Festival in 2019
17-year-old Anya Buckley
A woman whose niece died at a music festival has urged event organisers to show a greater duty of care to festivalgoers. Anya Buckley was just 17 when she died from heart failure on August 26, 2019, after taking a ‘cocktail of drugs’ at the Leeds Festival.
As thousands of partygoers head to the event this weekend, Anna Short is reflecting on the heartbreaking loss of her niece. Anna, 52, a marketing consultant, said: “As soon as you get over one milestone, another one comes around.
“It’s really difficult on family occasions because there’s somebody missing. Her birthday, Christmas, weddings – any family event is really hard. But the anniversary of her death is the day you never want to remember.”
Anya had been looking forward to the weekend like many teenagers her age. She had just returned from a holiday with friends and had recently made her relationship with her boyfriend, Jack, official, reports the Mirror.
But she took a mixture of ‘party drugs’ – MDMA, ketamine and cocaine – and collapsed, dying from heart failure at the festival.
At her inquest in January 2021 in Wakefield a pathologist concluded that Anya’s death was caused by mixed drug toxicity, adding that the ecstasy she took was particularly strong. Tragically, Anya’s is not the only drug-related death to be associated with UK festivals. Between 2017 and 2023, 32 drug-related deaths (DRDs) were recorded at festivals in the UK – 18 of which were people aged under 18.
Anna Short(Image: Steve Allen)
The number could be even higher, according to drugs charity Loop, as currently there is no centralised system for recording drug deaths at festivals and events. Now Anya’s close relatives and the families of other teenagers who have lost their lives in similar circumstances are urging event organisers to ‘put people before profit’ and show a greater duty of care to festivalgoers.
As well as drug testing at all festivals, they want young people to be educated on their potential dangers. And they want festival organisers to ensure there is a constant supply of free water and that swift medical help is available, should something go wrong.
Anna, of Oldham, who doted on her niece, said: “Anya came along before me and my husband had our own children, so we were very close. She was a bit like a daughter to us before our daughter came along and when she got older she was like a sister to my children. Now my daughter Lily is the same age as Anya when she died. It does impact me psychologically.
“All parents worry, naturally, but I’m far worse when it comes to my children after what happened to my niece. It’s heartbreaking to think Anya will never grow up to have children of her own. She was always there each time another baby arrived in the family. She’d be fussing over them because she absolutely loved babies.”
Anya Buckley(Image: LeedsLive/WS)
Sadly, Anya’s death was followed three years later by that of David Celino, 16, from Worsley, in Greater Manchester, who died in hospital after taking MDMA he bought at Leeds Festival in August 2022. David’s father, Gianpiero Celino, told his son’s inquest in August 2023 he believed that unaccompanied under 18s, who aren’t old enough to legally buy alcohol, fall foul of drug dealers, who operate like “the child catcher in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang,” due to lax security at festivals.
Tragic cases like those of Anya and David have led to calls from concerned families for event organisers, police and the government to improve safety at UK festivals – where there are, on average, five or six drug-related deaths each year, according to experts at Liverpool University.
And Anya’s aunt wants festivalgoers, who are tempted to take ‘party drugs,’ to have access to information about the dangers, so they can make an informed decision before they do so. Anna has been working with The Loop, which offers drug testing at festivals like Parklife in Manchester and Secret Garden Party in Cambridgeshire, and she has been visiting schools to explain to young people what her family is going through.
“Not enough is being done at festivals,” Anna adds. “Anya’s death was so unnecessary. The UK is well behind other countries when it comes to drug policy.”
David Celino, 16, from Worsley in Greater Manchester, died after taking ecstasy at Leeds Festival in August last year(Image: PA)
As well as offering free drug testing, she also wants festival organisers to show a duty of care to the thousands of young people who buy tickets for events like Leeds – which this year costs £325 for a weekend pass. She says that, while all festivals are obliged to offer free water to people attending, in reality, this often isn’t the case.
“The day Anya died it was the hottest day of the year and all the catering vans had run out of water,” Anna claims. “They had a few taps with free water but we were told the queues were an hour and a half long. What young person is going to wait that long when all they want to do is go and see the next act? Having access to water is a basic human right.
“Nobody helped her boyfriend get her to the medical area and it took him 45 minutes to get her there on his own. The security staff didn’t take it seriously. Why weren’t they trained in what to look out for? You also can’t help but wonder if she’d received medical attention sooner would she still be with us now?”
Anna wonders why under 18s are allowed into Leeds and Reading Festival – its sister event which runs the same weekend – in the first place. “Some festivals don’t allow under 18s in. For one, 16 to 18 year olds are too young to legally buy alcohol and aren’t used to drinking – never mind anything else. Reading and Leeds festivals tend to be the only ones that let under 18s in.”
Alleging that making money is the motive for letting younger teens attend, she continues:” It’s wrong. We live in a country that doesn’t class a child as an adult until they’re 18. They can’t go to nightclubs and can’t go drinking in pubs. If someone loses their life in a nightclub, that club gets shut down. The same doesn’t happen with a festival. It’s not good enough.
“Anya’s death was a huge shock. Sometimes I still question ‘did that actually happen?’ It didn’t need to happen, it was so unnecessary. I want all festivals to do the right thing by young people. If you’re going to let them in, put the right measures in place to keep them safe.
“Anya lit up the room everywhere she went – she was kind, caring and funny. We miss her smile and her laugh, she was a real giggler. The pain doesn’t go away, it never will, time isn’t a healer. Life for our family will never be the same again.”
Leeds Festival organisers Festival Republic were contacted for comment.
Kate Porter, CEO of The Loop, says: “It is difficult to understand the extent of drug-related deaths at festivals in the UK as there isn’t a joined-up approach to collating this information. A database or similar would be helpful as we could look at contributing factors and work out what interventions could have reduced harm. What we do know, is that every drug death is potentially preventable.”