Police and family appeal for man missing after Boomtown

24 August, 2023

General view of the stage and audience at Boowtown Festival, Matterley Estate in South Downs National Park, near Winchester, Hampshire, 12th August 2022

Police and family have launched an appeal for information after a man was reported missing after attending Boomtown Festival.

The man in question is a 31-year-old called Cameron Crowhurst from Birmingham, who went missing after attending the music festival earlier this month. He had attended the event before, but this year was his first time going solo.

Police have described him as five foot and nine inches, wearing glasses, and having a beard and fair skin. They have also shared an image of him with contact details, while his mother recalled him as mild-mannered in conversation but funny and charismatic.

The 2023 edition of the Boomtown Fair music festival took place in Hampshire took place between August 9 and 13. With a reported 66,000 capacity, the site is located at the Matterley Bowl near Winchester in the South Downs National Park.

According to reports from his family and the local police force, Crowhurst arrived at the festival on Wednesday (August 9) but left a day early on Saturday (August 12) after losing his phone at the site.

When leaving the site, he was picked up by the police on the M3 and taken to Basingstoke railway station. From there it is unclear where Crowhurst went, although it is believed he travelled onwards towards Bournemouth on Sunday (August 13).

His family have asked anyone who was on the 19:11 train from Basingstoke to Bournemouth to come forward if they have any information that may be relevant to the investigation.

They also stated that they believe he may have returned to Winchester to retrieve his belongings and may still be in the area. Anyone with dash cam footage or doorbell cameras in the area is being asked to contact the police.

It has also been confirmed that Crowhurst had a coach ticket from Boomtown to Birmingham, but it remains unclear whether or not he used the service.

“I can’t see that he would have just gone off and wouldn’t have let us know, or not contacted us. We think he might have got back off the train at Winchester to go and try and find his property, his suitcases and maybe his phone which was lost,” said his mother Jacqueline Bird to ITV.

“The last footage of him was him getting on a train at Basingstoke – which was the Bournemouth train.”

“He was just so excited about [the festival],” she added. “When he got here, he called me and said that he’d arrived and that he was just going in. He said that it was quite busy at that time. And then on the Thursday when he called me, he seemed fine, and just himself just having a laugh and joke with me. And then I’m assuming either on the Thursday or the Friday morning, he’s lost his phone.

“I’ve been calling him every day to contact me, and on the Monday morning, I was waiting for him to come home,” she continued. “He didn’t come home. On Tuesday morning, I called the festival, I called the police.”

His cousin Jade Bird also urged members of the public to come forward with any information. “If he is out there on the streets or in the forest, or you know, anywhere, he’s probably not had a bath or anything and he might be in a tent,” she said. “We just want them home safe – we don’t know what else to do, other than ask the public.”

Anyone with information has been asked to contact the police via 999 and quote PID: 441705.

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