Father's fears of further ecstasy deaths after his 16-year-old son collapsed and died at Leeds Festival

Giving evidence on the first day of the inquest into David Celino’s death, his father, Gianpiero Celino chillingly warned: “The ticket that could signal another young death has already been sold. It’s out there somewhere, it’s just not been cashed.”

Young David, who was from the Manchester area, was with his pals celebrating their GCSE results at last year’s music festival at Bramham Park when he took an ecstasy pill.

He collapsed about 90 minutes later and was rushed to hospital but died the next morning.

The devastated parents, who both work as pharmacists, gave evidence at the resumed inquest into David’s death at Wakefield Coroner’s Court this morning. Mr Celino raised concerns about the apparent availability of drugs at the festival, especially to those under the age of 18.

He said: “You have got to ask yourself what a 16 or 17-year-old could do for fun if you can’t buy alcohol. Our understanding is that it’s not difficult to find a source of drugs.

"It is driving them into hands of people who went to sell them drugs. It seems to me there’s a problem.

"There’s a sense that the search procedures (into the festival site) are not particularly effective. From talking to the police, it was clear they felt overwhelmed with the number of people who were intoxicated that are clearly not able to look after themselves, and a substantial number of them are under 18.”

The inquest heard that David had taken ecstasy the night before his death, then took another pill on the Saturday evening, August 27. A selfie video taken of David at around 7pm showed that he was “not a well boy”, his father said. He was pale, breathing deeply and “looked parched”.

David’s friend at the festival also told the inquest this morning that he was worried about him, that he was was talking fast, could not walk in a straight line and his hand was shaking so badly he could not even hold a bottle of water that was bought for him. The youngster, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said security guards even saw David being held up by his friends but did or said nothing.

David collapsed around 90 minutes later close to the medical tent. Mr Celino questioned why nobody had intervened despite his son showing signs of being unwell.

He said: “If you walked down any street in Manchester or Leeds like that somebody would come up to you and ask if you were okay. Why did nobody step up and say ‘you do not look well’?”

The inquest also heard that nobody has been prosecuted or even arrested for selling the drugs to David and his friends.

The organisers of the festival, Festival Republic, said they would address Mr Celino’s concerns when they give evidence at the inquest, which continues and is scheduled to last at least two days.