Matthew Jones, 17, had left the main festival area on his own and walked across a bridge over the River Thames to the white zone camping area, the most private section of the festival
This is the schoolboy whose body was found lying alone in a remote part of the Reading Festival site, a coroner head today.
Matthew Jones, 17, had left the main festival area on his own and walked across a bridge over the River Thames to the white zone camping area, the most remote section of the festival.
The inquest opening heard Matthew was found by friends who went to his tent to check on him at about 2am.
He was motionless and unresponsive, with a plastic carrier bag tied around his head. He was not breathing.
However the coroner heard a post mortem examination carried out on Matthew’s body by a pathologist was unable to discover an exact cause of death.
A full inquest next year will rule on whether the teenager deliberately killed himself by suffocation or whether there was some other explanation.
The inquest heard that on Sunday August 27 Matthew, from Leighton Buzzard, had left the main arena and gone back to the campsite on his own.
He was pronounced dead by paramedics at 2.17am on Monday August 28.
His body was taken to John Radcliffe Hospital mortuary on August 29 where his parents, Sophie and Steven, identified him.
Matthew Jones, 17, was found dead in a tent at Reading Festival on August 28
Oxfordshire Coroner Darren Salter read out a report from a Detective Constable working on the case.
He said: ‘A 17-year-old gentleman was at Reading Festival with friends.
‘On Sunday August 27 he left the main arena and went back to the campsite. Later, in the early hours of the following day, his friends went to check on him in his tent next to theirs. At 01.55am they discovered a carrier bag tied over his head in his tent. He was unresponsive and not breathing.’
The inquest into Matthew’s death will be resumed on January 10.
In Leighton Buzzard, Hockliffe Street Baptist Church held a memorial service for Matthew last week.
It said it was ‘a special time of prayer and reflection for the Jones family following the tragic death of their eldest son Matthew.
‘It will be an opportunity to come together as a community to reflect and pray, whether quietly or corporately, for Steve & Sophie and their children as well as the wider family and Matthew’s friends.’
The teenager had walked from the main arena, over a bridge to the white camping section (far left)
In a separate incident another teenager was stabbed while Kasabian played their headline set at the festival on August 27.
The 18-year-old was attacked with a ‘sharp implement’ after a fight broke out between several festivalgoers.
He was treated by festival medical staff before being taken to Royal Berkshire Hospital. He has since been discharged.
Tens of thousands of music fans attended the event which, along with its sister festival Leeds, which takes place across the August Bank Holiday weekend.
Acts at both festivals included Eminem, Muse, Liam Gallagher and Bastille.