Teenager dies at Reading Festival

A man of 18 was found dead at the Reading Festival yesterday. Emergency services and friends tried to revive the man at a campsite near Cow Lane for nearly an hour after police found him unconscious.

The man, believed to be from Leighton Buzzard, was pronounced dead at the Royal Berkshire Hospital. Inspector John Ramsbottom, of Thames Valley Police, said scenes-of-crime and CID officers were called.

"We don't know the cause of death," he said. "There are few physical marks on the body or other indications. We will have to wait for a full examination."

Another man, in his 20s, was knocked over by a water-tanker as he left the festival's main entrance and trapped face-down underneath. Paramedics and firefighters took more than an hour to free him. He is in hospital, said to be in a stable condition with non-life threatening injuries.

Police said crime was down on last year. Most of the 60 arrests were for thefts from tents and festival-goers. But there were also 164 alleged drug offences, an alleged indecent assault and a man had part of his ear bitten off. Officers seized cannabis, crack cocaine and ecstasy. Last year, 740 crimes were recorded.