Wednesday 28 July 2010

Drug dealer jailed at T In The Park


At T in the Park a drug dealer who was caught with nearly £5000 worth of cocaine has been jailed for three and a half years. Gary Hume was sentenced to serve 42 months in prison after a jury found him guilty of supplying the class A drug at the music festival. Sheriff Michael Fletcher said he had no option but impose a custodial sentence on Hume and said the supply of drugs at T in the Park was a commonplace scourge. He said: "The courts have said regularly that the supply of Class A drugs should be treated seriously. The value of the drugs was over £4000 in this case. Furthermore, this took place at the T in the Park festival where great difficulty is experienced in relation to drugs of this and all sorts of other kinds."Hume was caught with a large haul of cocaine just minutes after arriving at the festival site and was also discovered with sex drug Viagra during a police raid. Perth Sheriff Court heard yesterday that Hume who had two close relatives die due to drug overdoses lived with his mother and has a girlfriend who suffered from agoraphobia. Hume - who claimed a Chinese drug dealer had given him cocaine by mistake when he tried to buy other drugs was found guilty of supplying the class A drug by a jury. The court heard how police officers, acting on a tip off, targeted Hume's camper van the moment it pulled into the car park at the Balado, Kinross, site. The court heard how around 15 officers swooped on Hume and his friends and during a search of the van found five bags of cocaine, diazepam, and a Viagra tablet. Drug squad officers told the court that the 96 grams of cocaine hidden in Hume's toiletry bag was worth £3500 pounds and could be further divided to have an ultimate value of £4818. Hume told the court that he believed it was speed he was buying from a Chinese drug dealer in Glasgow for £200. He said he could not explain why the dealer accidentally gave him nearly £5000 pounds worth of cocaine instead.Hume, 29, of Wallacewell Road, Glasgow, was found guilty of supplying cocaine during last year's T in the Park on July 10. He was also found guilty of possessing diazepam.

Thursday 22 July 2010

At T In The Park Final farewell for man who died


HUNDREDS of people attended a service to bid farewell to an Aberdeenshire man who died at T in the Park.
The family and friends of David Catto, 24, celebrated his life at Portlethen Parish Church after he died following an apparent asthma attack at T in the Park earlier this month.
The Rev John Watson said electrical designer Mr Catto, of Newtonhill, had lived his life to the full, “achieving much and touching many”.
The Small Faces track All Or Nothing was played, which Mr Watson said reflected the way Mr Catto, pictured, had lived.
Among the mourners was T in the Park arranger Geoff Ellis who has been in close contact with Mr Catto’s family since his death.
Mr Catto was laid to rest with memorabilia from favourite artists he never got to look at T in the Park.
His parents, David and Margaret, both 53, sister Elaine 28, and brother Bobby, 27, thanked everyone for the support they have had since David’s death.

Saturday 17 July 2010

T in the Park rape ordeal of girl, 18


AN 18 year old T In The Park reveller was raped in the back of a van after being abducted from the campsite, it was revealed last night.
The girl was lured into the motor by at least two men and was driven off before one of the fiends sexually assaulted her.
One source claimed the kidnappers who'd earlier chatted with their victim thumped on the outside of the vehicle in a sickening bid to drown out her tortured screams.
The traumatised girl was later dumped at a spot near the festival venue at Balado, Kinross, on Sunday night.
Yesterday, a sickened relative of the victim, from Glasgow, said: "I hope they catch the b******* who did this.
"The poor girl is bruised and distressed. She has been to hospital for tests and she's spoken to the police.
"She is struggling to come to terms with what's happened."
The girl had arrived at the site with a group of pals on Friday, while her sister was also at the music bash.
Her relative added: "She was there with friends but she was separated from them and she met up with some young men that she'd talked to earlier on.
"Her pals were going to one gig and she was wanting to go to another one, and that's when she was taken advantage of."Last night a spokesman for Tayside police said: "Inquiries into this matter are ongoing."
The festival had also been marred by another sex attack and two murder bids.
Cops are hunting a man behind a vile assault on a woman in her 20s on Saturday night.
On Tuesday, three men appeared at Perth Sheriff Court accused of stabbing two revellers at the festival on July 11.
Joseph Lindsay, 25, Robert Lindsay, 23, and John Dorfman, 22, all of Glasgow, were charged with attempting to murder Nicholas Gallacher, 20, and Robert Hynds, 20, from Fife.
Dorfman faces a third charge of punching Mark Bell in the face. None of the three defendants made a plea or declaration and the case was continued.
The two injured men were said to be in a "stable" condition in Dundee's Ninewells Hospital.
Meanwhile, a 19 year old man needed brain surgery after falling 6ft from a flagpole at T In The Park on Sunday.

Wednesday 14 July 2010

At T In The Park three people arrested attempted murders


Tayside Police have arrested three people in relation to two attempted murders at T In The Park at the weekend (July 11). The arrests were made after police found two 20 year old men suffering from "serious abdominal injuries" close to the campsite at the Balado, Kinross festival on Sunday night. The injured men are still in Ninewells Hospital, Dundee, where they remain in a serious but stable condition. Event Commander Chief Superintendent Craig Suttie explained: "Our enquiries into a serious incident in which two men were seriously injured are ongoing and I would appeal for witnesses to come forward and assist us."Police have also appealed for information regarding a separate incident that occurred on the site at roughly 10pm (BST) on Saturday (July 10), when a woman was injured and sexually assaulted near to the bus parking area. Police are looking to speak to a man described as white, heavily built, with dark shaved hair and wearing a long-sleeved dark top in relation to the incident. A further incident at the festival saw a 19 year old man badly injured after falling six feet from a flagpole on the Sunday night. The man sustained head injuries and has since undergone neurosurgery at Ninewells Hospital, where he remains in a critical condition. As previously reported, a 24 year old man also died on the site on Friday night in a separate incident. Festival organiser Geoff Ellis described the incidents as "very unfortunate", but praised the efforts of the on site health and safety teams, as well as the 450 police deployed to the site. Ellis said, "The quality of our event management team, the emergency services' work and on site medical care has once again been outstanding".

Saturday 10 July 2010

T In The Park: Man dies at T In The Park festival 2010


At T In The Park a music fan died last night (July 9), police have confirmed. 24 year old David Catto, from Stonehaven, collapsed while on his way from the main arena to the campsite. Police officers attempted to resuscitate him, though they were unsuccessful and he was pronounced dead at the scene. Tayside Police said Catto's family had visited the site, in Balado, Kinross, in the early hours of the morning, and were now being comforted. A post mortem is due to be carried out next week. A T In The Park spokesperson told NME that police investigations into Catto's death were ongoing. The music festival has this year launched a new initiative called Citizen T, encouraging campers to look our for their neighbours while on site. The three day festival will this year look upwards of 85,000 music fans attend to watch the likes of Kasabian, Eminem and Jay-Z over the weekend.

Monday 5 July 2010

At Open'er festival in Poland Kasabian warm up for T in the Park slot


KASABIAN warmed up for their T in the Park headline set with a storming gig at a festival in the Polish city of Gdansk.
But the rockers revealed that their European tour has become such a blur that they have to print the name of the country at the top of their set list to keep track of where they are.
The Leicester band have had a hectic schedule of playing festivals and gigs throughout Europe but admit they can't wait to top the bill at T in the Park this weekend.
I caught up with the lads at the Open'er music festival in Poland.

Currently voted Europe's best major festival, Open'er also featured performances from Skunk Anansie and Ellie Goulding, who are both in the T in the Park line up.
Relaxing with the band backstage at the festival, Kasabian's guitarist and songwriter Serge Pizzorno admitted: "We flew into Poland this evening but if it didn't have the name of the country written at the top of the set list we wouldn't know where we are.
"It doesn't matter and I kind of like it like that. We are just here to play a show.
"Sometimes you don't know what day it is. It's a bubble.
"You've got to be built for touring as much as we do. If you're not built for it, it's over. The touring life is not for everyone. You've got to be wired up that way."
They'll have no such problems at T in the Park this weekend as Kasabian have been counting down to their prestigious main stage gig which will round o the festival in style.
They'll be performing directly after Jay-Z and before the reworks signal the end of the event, which gets under way at Balado, near Kinross on Friday.
Kasabian frontman Tom Meighan said: "T in the Park will be the first festival headliner for us and we can't wait because it is going to be amazing."
Serge added: "At T in the Park, you've got Muse, Eminem and Kasabian. If you are into music, you can't argue with that. It's going to be incredible whatever you're into."
At the Open'er festival, Kasabian gave the Razz an exclusive preview of their show.
They played a one-and-a-half-hour set on Saturday night for 60,000 ecstatic Polish fans, opening with Fast Fuse as frontman Tom asked the crowd: "Poland, how are you?"
Next up were Shoot The Runner, Underdog, Where Did All the Love Go? and Swarfiga.
They also belted out favourites including Cut O , Reason Is Treason and Mothman before thick As thieves, Take Aim and Empire.
The rockers' full on assault continued with Doberman, Stunt, Club Foot, Fire, Vlad The Impaler and LSF.
Kasabian also previewed a number of tracks from their forthcoming new album, which is due out in September.
It's been a fantastic year so far for them, winning Best British group at the Brits, Best British Album for West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum at the NME awards and Best Song for Fire at the Mojo awards.
But even with all those accolades, frontman Tom says the band's slot ahead of Jay-Z at T in the Park is a huge step for them.
He has nothing but praise for the rapper, who caused controversy by becoming the first hip-hop act to headline Glastonbury.
Tom said: "From doing that one Glastonbury gig he is now seen as a festival act, so fair play. He's going on before us. It's quite nice because we were his support act at a festival the other night. He is cool."
Meanwhile, Serge has admitted he is on cloud nine with the news that he and his girlfriend are expecting their first child.
He said: "I feel great. I'm looking forward to being a dad. e baby is due in September.
"I am buzzing and I am also looking forward to stopping worrying about myself.
"I am pretty cool about it and will carry on as before. I'll always be on tour. I'll be writing music through everything." Skunk Anansie also looked on top form in Gdansk at the festival which is held in a former airfield.
Singer Skin crowd surfed during their most famous hit single Weak.
She told the audience: "We haven't been in Poland for 10 years. It's absolutely incredible to be back."
And judging by the reaction of the crowd, the Balado audience will be in for a treat.