A 33-year-old man has pleaded guilty to outraging public decency after having sex on the ferris wheel at Download Festival in June. Innes Miller, from Nottinghamshire, appeared at Leicester Magistrates Court over the incident at Donington Park on Saturday, June 13 — a few hours before Guns N’ Roses closed the main stage. He had no idea it had been filmed until his employer rang him to tell him he was all over the internet.
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What happened
Saturday afternoon at Donington. Eighty thousand people on site. Guns N’ Roses due on the main stage that evening.
Miller and a woman he had met at the festival got onto the ferris wheel — one of the most visible structures anywhere on the site, and by design the one thing at Download that everybody can see from everywhere.
What happened in the carriage was filmed from the ground. The footage went round social media.
He found out the way nobody wants to find out anything. His boss called him and told him he was all over the internet.
The court heard he had been drinking. His solicitor described it as a moment of madness and said his client was thoroughly ashamed and embarrassed by what had happened.
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What it cost him
He pleaded guilty to outraging public decency, and the financial penalty is the part that will surprise people.
Fined £80. Plus £85 in court costs and a £32 victim surcharge. A total of £197.
Two hundred quid, roughly, and a criminal conviction that will follow him considerably longer than the fine will. He’s currently studying civil engineering at Nottingham College.
The woman involved apologised immediately when police contacted her and was not prosecuted.
Why there was a prosecution at all
This is the part that explains why it went to court rather than being written off as festival stupidity, and it’s worth knowing before anyone decides it was heavy-handed.
The complaint came from a woman who had taken her young son on the ferris wheel at the same time.
The court heard her son has autism, that he was in shock at what he saw, and that his behaviour has changed since. Other families were having picnics on the grass nearby.
That’s the reason the charge exists. Outraging public decency isn’t about the act — it’s about doing it somewhere people can’t avoid seeing it, and a fairground wheel in the middle of a festival site on a Saturday afternoon is about as public as it gets.
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The thing about the ferris wheel
Anyone who has been to Download will have already worked out the flaw in the plan.
The big wheel is the tallest thing on the site that isn’t a stage. It’s the landmark people use to find each other. It’s in the background of roughly half the photos anyone takes there. From the top you can see the whole of Donington Park, which necessarily means the whole of Donington Park can see you.
It is, in other words, the single worst place at a festival of that size to assume you have any privacy at all.
Eighty thousand people, most of them holding a phone.
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For context on the weekend itself
Download 2026 ran June 12 to 14 at Donington Park, with Guns N’ Roses, and it was one of the strongest bills the festival has assembled in years.
Miller’s incident happened on the Saturday, some hours before Axl Rose and company took the main stage.
Which means that among all the things that happened at Download this year — the sets, the reunions, the debuts — the one that ended up in a courtroom involved a fairground ride and somebody’s phone.
TL;DR
- Innes Miller, 33, from Nottinghamshire, has pleaded guilty to outraging public decency at Leicester Magistrates Court.
- The incident took place on the ferris wheel at Download Festival on Saturday, June 13, 2026, a few hours before Guns N’ Roses headlined.
- He learned the footage was online when his employer called him and told him he was all over the internet.
- He was fined £80, with £85 costs and a £32 victim surcharge — £197 in total.
- The complaint came from a woman who had taken her son on the wheel at the same time. The court heard her son has autism, was in shock, and that his behaviour has changed since.
- The woman involved apologised immediately when contacted by police and was not prosecuted.
- His solicitor called it a moment of madness and said he was thoroughly ashamed.
FAQ
What happened on the Download Festival ferris wheel?
A 33-year-old man from Nottinghamshire had sex with a woman he had met at the festival while on the ferris wheel at Donington Park on Saturday, June 13, 2026. The incident was filmed from the ground and the footage circulated on social media.
What was the sentence?
He pleaded guilty to outraging public decency at Leicester Magistrates Court and was fined £80, with £85 in court costs and a £32 victim surcharge — a total of £197. The conviction stands on his record.
Was anyone else prosecuted?
No. The woman involved apologised immediately when contacted by police and was not charged.
Why was it treated as a criminal matter?
The charge of outraging public decency applies to acts committed where members of the public can see them. The complaint was made by a woman who had taken her young son on the ferris wheel at the same time; the court heard the boy has autism, was in shock, and that his behaviour has changed since. Other families were nearby.
When was Download Festival 2026?
June 12 to 14, 2026 at Donington Park in Leicestershire, with Guns N’ Roses among the headliners. The incident took place on the Saturday afternoon.
Eighty thousand people, the tallest ride on site, and a bill for £197. Keep it locked on the Loaded Radio stream — follow Loaded Radio for daily rock and metal news.
The post Judgement Comes Down on the Guy Who Got Caught in the Act On The Download Ferris Wheel appeared first on Loaded Radio.
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