25/06/2026
A heartbroken daughter had to drag her own dad's body from a tent after he died at a festival💔
Paul John Whitley, 50, and his daughter had just spent a long day driving to Download Festival.
It was Paul's first time ever staying in a tent, and he was incredibly excited to see bands like Limp Bizkit and Hollywood Undead.
But when Caitlyn shouted good morning to him from her tent around 9am, she got no answer.
By 10.30am, she went inside to check on him.
"I went and tried to wake him at about 10.30am, but he was not lying down; he was at the front of the tent on his knees, it was like he was trying to crawl out of the tent," Caitlyn said.
She frantically tried to rouse him, but he was freezing and completely still.
Caitlyn called out in a panic for her mum, Emmilou, who was also staying at the campsite.
Emmilou says she touched his back, realised something was terribly wrong, and ran to get help.
A volunteer nurse rushed over on instinct, but Paul had already passed away.
Leicestershire Police have confirmed they are not treating the death as suspicious.
Caitlyn is adamant that drugs or heavy drinking were not involved.
She says her dad rarely drank, and had simply taken a sip of her cider, smoked a cigarette, and drank a coffee before falling asleep.
Back home in Sittingbourne, Kent, Paul worked as a galvaniser and served as the primary carer for his mother following a stroke.
He was known as a devoted father who used to sing Slipknot songs to Caitlyn to calm her down when she cried as a baby.
His official cause of death remains a mystery and could take up to 15 weeks for a coroner to confirm.
