AUNTIE'S PAIN

EXCLUSIVE BY JACKIE ANNETT

- BY JACKIE ANNETT

Headline acts Chappell Roan, Travis Scott, Hozier and Bring Me The Horizon are expected to draw 75,000 people to Leeds Festival this weekend.

But while revellers soak up the party atmosphere, for Anna Short, the event will bring nothing but pain.

Anna's niece Anya Buckley, 17, died on August 26, 2019, after taking a cocktail of drugs at the festival.

"As soon as you get over one milestone, another one comes around," says Anna, 52, a marketing consultant.

"It's really difficult on family occasions, because there's somebody missing. Her birthday, Christmas, weddings - any event is really difficult.

"But the anniversary of her death is the day you never want to remember."

Like thousands of other teenagers, Anya was looking forward to letting her hair down at the event.

Back from enjoying a holiday with her friends, she had just gone "official" with her boyfriend Jack, who shed been seeing for a few months. But she took a mixture of 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 were recorded at festivals in the UK - 18 of which were people aged under 18.

And 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 festival goers.

As well as drug testing at all festivals, they want young people to be educated on their potential dangers.