A man who had sex on a ferris wheel at Download Festival earlier this summer has gone to court, and revealed that he found out that a video of the incident went viral after he got a call from his boss.
The 33-year-old civil engineering student, Innes Miller, found footage of himself and a woman he met earlier that day going viral back in June, when they were filmed having sex on the ferris wheel at the festival site around lunchtime.
As reported by the Daily Star, a couple were spotted by other festivalgoers ahead of Guns N’ Roses performing that night, and seemingly engaged in an “intimate act” while in one of the ferris wheel’s pods.
Footage was then captured and shared online over the rest of the weekend, and Leicestershire Police later announced that they were trying to identify and locate the man and woman involved.
Now, Leicestershire Police have tracked both people down after identifying them from the videos, and interviewed them both.
According to Nottingham Post, the woman was apologetic and explained to police what happened, meaning that she was not prosecuted.
Our only UK show this year, Download Fest was fun! Thank you 🌹 pic.twitter.com/KjiFpTiwKL
— Guns N’ Roses (@gunsnroses) July 14, 2026
Miller, however, allegedly refused to share comments with police, and was subject to a community order for a drug-driving offence at the time. He was charged with outraging public decency, and appeared in court yesterday (Thursday September 10), where he pleaded guilty to the charges.
Prosecutor Sally Bedford shared that the police were notified of the incident at Download by a woman who was on the ferris wheel with her young, autistic son, at the same time as Miller was seen in another pod.
“[The witness] said she was mortified,” Bedford shared. “She said her son was in shock and since the incident, her son’s behaviour has changed.”
Miller’s lawyer, however, shared that the incident was generally received in a lighthearted manner when it happened, telling the court: “Most people found it amusing, and a lot of them were clapping. You’ve got to balance that distress caused with what everyone else clearly thought was a moment of madness and funny.”
The lawyer also shared how there “was no sinister intent to outrage public decency”, that Miller was “under the influence of alcohol”, and how he only found out that footage was circulating online when “his boss rang him to tell him, ‘you’re all over the internet’”.
“That in itself is punishment enough for what happened that day,” the lawyer added. “He’s thoroughly ashamed and embarrassed.”
Chair of the bench Anne Cowan told Miller that him “going viral on various platforms” has “nothing to do with the courts”, and handed down a fine of £80, £85 in court costs, and a £32 victim surcharge.
The Suffolk Sexual Health Service outlines that having sex in public isn’t necessarily illegal, unless it is done in a public toilet, but the Sexual Offences Act 2003 prohibits indecent exposure in public – meaning that if a witness sees it, the person/people involved could face a fine of up to £5,000, or up to six months in prison.
Guns N’ Roses headlined Download for the first time in 20 years at the 2026 edition, and other headliners were Limp Bizkit and Linkin Park.
