THE mother of a woman whose death inspired an annual music festival has said she is ‘disgusted and sickened’ after Witney Town Council was caught using ‘secret’, ‘camouflaged’ cameras to spy on festival goers.

Council officers were spotted removing the cameras from trees days after the event’s finale on The Leys in Witney on June 10.

The town council said it uses cameras on The Leys, which it owns, to monitor anti-social behaviour – but police have said council staff told officers they were used to observe the event.

It follows a long-running feud between festival organisers and the council, predominantly around the issue of timings.

Now, Paula Foster, whose daughter Jo Marie Foster died in 2005, has accused the council of trying to sabotage the event and of holding ‘a vendetta’ against it.

The 59-year old said: “Witney Town Council is trying to squash the music festival for reasons unbeknown to me.

“They are causing lots of issues and it upsets me because it upsets the public, it upsets my son who organised it, but also it upsets my daughter’s memory.

“The community of Witney love it, and not just Witney but people come from abroad to see it.

“The amount of revenue people bring into Witney is huge.”

The festival was first held in 2006 in memory of Jo Marie, who died in her sleep of heart failure at the age of 21.

It was founded by her brother Stuart and in 2014 a new team, including current festival chairman Eric Marshall, came together alongside him to take it into a new era.

Controversy arose earlier this year after the council insisted on an earlier finishing time for the festival, citing concerns from residents over noise.

While organisers had planned to finish the after party at 2am this year, the town council said the festival had to end by midnight instead.

Speaking of the timings row Ms Foster added: “I don’t know why the town council is so intent on squashing it.

“The festival is strong.

“If they want to squash it then they will have to go through me.”

When the cameras were first discovered, residents and festival goers said they were ‘disgusted’ at the move.

Festival chairman Mr Marshall called on anybody involved in the decision to use the cameras to resign and said he was outraged that nobody had been told about it.

Ms Foster said on learning of the camera use: “I felt disgusted and absolutely sickened.

“You could be in one of the toilet cubicles and you don’t know where these cameras are. How can they do that?

“The cameras were so underhand of the town council, nobody knew about these cameras and it being a private event they should have told us in advance.”

Police, who were contacted by festival organisers after the discovery of the cameras, said: “We have contacted the council who explained that they put up cameras pointed at the main stage.

“The cameras take a photo every half hour – time stamped – and these were purely in case there were complaints that the festival went on longer than it should,” a spokesman added.

The force said it appears no offence was committed.

A spokeswoman for Witney Town Council said the authority hadn’t heard from Mrs Foster other than through the Witney Gazette’s inquiry, but “is keen that if she has any concerns or is upset in any way that they address this with her immediately”.

She added: “As a result, Mrs Foster and her family are warmly invited to meet with the mayor, leader of the council and chairman of community services in order to give the family the opportunity to raise anything they would like to discuss. Mrs Foster deserves a timely and personal response to her concerns.”

A spokeswoman for Witney Town Council said the authority hadn’t heard from Mrs Foster other than through the Witney Gazette’s inquiry, but 'is keen that if she has any concerns or is upset in any way that they address this with her immediately'.

She added: “As a result, Mrs Foster and her family are warmly invited to meet with the mayor, leader of the council and chairman of community services in order to give the family the opportunity to raise anything they would like to discuss.

"Mrs Foster deserves a timely and personal response to her concerns.”