Drugs were being sold like ‘food at a market’ at a notorious music festival were a university student died after overdosing on MDMA, a coroner has said.
Former film student Ben Buckfield, 22, died last August after overdosing on Class A drug, MDMA, while attending the Boomtown festival in South Downs National Park, near Winchester, Hampshire.
Coroner Nicholas Walker said it is ‘very worrying’ that drug dealers would wander through the festival’s campsites shouting ‘ket, coke, pills’ – all of which were on offer to revellers.
He also raised concerns about the drug culture at Boomtown after Ben’s death made him the fifth person to have died at the annual five-day long event since its inception in 2009.
Ben’s parents, Georgina and David Buckfield, told the inquest that the Hampshire event is a ‘dangerous, enabling environment’ for young people and that ‘it’s only a matter of time before there’s another death’.
Ben, who had recently graduated from The University of Winchester, died after suffering a seizure as a result of consuming four pills of the Class A drug in what was described as a ‘drug bomb’.
Delivering his conclusion, Mr Walker told Winchester Coroner’s Court: ‘It seems to me that the most appropriate conclusion I can offer in this case is one of drug-related death.
‘I’m satisfied that the MDMA in his system overwhelmed him and he began to have seizures as it took effect.
Ben Buckfield died after overdosing on Class A drug, MDMA, on a hot day at the Boomtown festival last year
Coroner Nicholas Walker raised concerns over the drug culture at the festival which is held in South Downs National Park, near Winchester, Hampshire, every year
‘Ben took drugs into the festival, and purchased more drugs inside the festival. I’m satisfied that he died of the MDMA he purchased inside.’
Mr Walker referred to evidence he heard from Ben’s friends about the ‘open and obvious’ sale of drugs in the campsite area.
He said: ‘I do find it particularly worrying evidence that young people are left alone in campsites and festivals, without parents or societal pressures, that there are dealers walking around so regularly and blatantly.’
The coroner said this is ‘of concern’ to him and referred to evidence he heard that dealers would shout about their products ‘as if it were food in a market rather than illicit drugs’.
Mr Walker added: ‘There was therefore a ready supply of drugs for Ben to buy.’
Mr Walker said he was satisfied that the medical care provided to Ben by staff onside was ‘entirely appropriate’, and commented that he is satisfied that the organisers at Boomtown take ‘safety seriously’.
Grieving mother Mrs Buckfield, from Saffron Walden, Essex, delivered a statement ahead of the coroner’s conclusion in which she described her son as a ‘glorious, unique human being with a great love of life’.
She said he was ‘passionate’ about movies made by director Martin Scorsese, and was a massive fan of the TV show Game of Thrones.
Ben’s mother, Georgina (pictured), described her son as a ‘glorious, unique human being with a great love of life’.
Winchester Coroner’s Court (above) heard dealers would stroll around campsites shouting ‘ket, coke, pills’ – all of which were on offer to revellers at the festival
Mrs Buckfield, from Saffron Walden, Essex, said her son was ‘well read and passionate about politics and history, with a particular interest in Russian history’.
The mother added: ‘Ben loved his family and friends and would always stick up for the underdog. He had his whole life ahead of him.
‘I don’t want his life defined by what happened on that terrible night at Boomtown Festival. I don’t want more families and friends going through the same heartbreak we’re enduring.’
Mrs Buckfield said it is ‘shocking’ that Ben is the fifth young person to die at the festival.
She added: ‘[If] things don’t change at Boomtown, it’s only a matter of time before there’s another death or life-changing injury.
‘We feel in its present state, Boomtown is a dangerous enabling environment for young vulnerable people, and lessons need to be learned.
‘Ben was a real human being, not a faceless, invisible ticket holder.’
Boomtown is a festival that is known for incorporating rave culture into its production.
Boomtown (pictured in 2015) is a festival that is known for incorporating rave culture into its production
The coroner’s court heard that Ben arrived at the festival on August 8 with a group of friends from school and university. He had been to the festival once before in 2023.
He was seen taking cocaine, ketamine and drinking alcohol, but his friends said this was not ‘out of the ordinary’ at a social event.
They said you could hear people advertising the sale of drugs every twenty minutes or so in the tent area of the festival.
Ben had brought some drugs into the festival with him and is believed to have bought some more from vendors in the two days prior to his death.
On the Saturday evening he arrived in a crowd with his friends and was ‘profusely sweating’.
He tried to get out of the crowd and then started suffering from seizures, being put into the recovery position by medics.
He was later taken to the festival’s medical tent, before being taken off to hospital, where he passed away at 3.45am the next day after repeated attempts to save him.
His parents, who were at a wedding in Warwickshire, arrived at around 11:30pm and saw him in hospital before his death.
Ben’s parents, Georgina and David Buckfield (pictured) told the inquest that ‘it’s only a matter of time before there’s another death’ at the festival
His cause of death was later confirmed as Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) toxicity.
Addressing the coroner’s court, Mr Walker said: ‘A number of people here have clearly been utterly devastated by the events of last year.
‘I remind myself of the words of his mum, on behalf of the family, that Ben was a glorious young man – funny, intelligent and caring – and a life not defined by that night.
‘He was a young man with the world ahead of him, having fun at a festival – a rite of passage for young people everywhere in this country and abroad.
‘A kind, passionate, intelligent, interested and interesting young man. He was being young, and as many people often do, made foolish decisions in the course of those few days.
‘But, I repeat, and I’m sure, that he will not be defined by that night.’
Mr Walker said he will consider issuing a Prevention of Future Deaths report into Ben’s death.
