“They arrived at the festival and never went home”: Leeds Festival dealers jailed after police sting

Two men have been sent to prison after they pleaded guilty to dealing cocaine, MDMA and ketamine at Leeds Festival this Summer.

20-year-old Joshua Hague and 18-year-old Wade Taylor from Barnsley were caught by West Yorkshire Police storing drugs in their tents with an estimated value of £32,270.

They were part of a larger group that tried to flee from the police when suspected at the festival and have been detained by the police since their arrests in late August.

Hague pleaded guilty to two counts of possession with intent to supply whilst Taylor pleaded guilty to three counts. They will both spend the 45 months in a young offender’s prison.

Their case follows several other sentences made in October to men possessing Class A and Class B drugs. 

Overall, 56 people were arrested at the festival for possessing or supplying drugs.

West Yorkshire Police confiscated 417 MDMA pills, 160g of cocaine and 236g of ketamine from people at the festival.

Although drugs are strictly forbidden at the festival, the festival website encourages anyone who has taken drugs and is worried or feels unwell to find the drug advisory staff located in the medical tent. 

In 2022, 16-year-old David Celino passed away after taking MDMA bought at the festival. Sniffer dogs at the festival entrances were introduced because of this. 

The festival also uses the stage screens to display images of pills that people who are unwell in the medical tent have taken, in hopes of warning others.

The West Yorkshire Police Superintendent hopes that these sentences will “serve as a very strong deterrent” to those thinking of dealing drugs at the 2024 festival.

“They arrived at the festival site in August to cynically make money from selling drugs, but they never went home and are now starting lengthy periods in prison”.