An award-winning entrepreneur – and former Virgin young business ambassador – has been jailed for dealing drugs from his tent at a music festival.

Founder of Lazy Camper, Jacob Hill, was sentenced to 28 months in prison for selling cannabis and MDMA at Leeds Festival, in August last year.

Hill, 22, had set up the camping business while studying at Huddersfield University and he went on to receive many awards and plaudits.

But Leeds Crown Court heard that Hill, a former Yorkshire Ambassador for Virgin Media Pioneers, was £17,000 in debt when he was caught with drugs worth £1,751.

Hill, who admitted possession with intent to supply class A drugs, had advised Prince Andrew on encouraging young people into business after winning a Duke of York Young Entrepreneur Awards.

The court heard security guards at the festival had overheard two girls saying they were going to a tent to buy Es.

Jacob Hill, of The Lazy Camper
Jacob Hill

The guards followed the pair to Hill’s tent where they were offered drugs.

When the guards identified themselves Hill tried to run away – but he was caught with 14 bags of cannabis and nine bags of MDMA.

Sentencing him, Recorder Ray Singh said it was ‘extraordinary’ that a man of Hill’s privileged background and calibre had chosen to deal drugs.

Mitigating barrister Ben Campbell said Hill ‘rose too high, too soon’ and taken ‘wholly the wrong option’ to get himself out of debt.

Hill, of Anvil Street, Brighouse, founded the Lazy Camper, a company specialising in camping gear for festivals, in 2011.

The following year, he won a clutch of awards including the Lloyds TSB ‘Best Start Up for Yorkshire and North East’, the Kirklees Council and Huddersfield Examiner ‘New Business of the Year’ and Huddersfield University’s Vice-Chancellor’s student entrepreneur award.

Jacob Hill speaking at the Young Flyers Awards
Jacob Hill speaking at the Young Flyers Awards

In 2013, he raised £30,000 of investment from fellow students before pitching to Virgin founder Richard Branson.

As a result he secured £270,000, employed six people and won a contract to be a main sponsor for V Festival.

Hill appeared on BBC3 series ‘Be Your Own Boss’ where he pitched to smoothies’ magnate, Richard Reed.

But in early 2014, Hill fell into difficulties with his investors and ‘suffered from substance misuse issues for a time’, according to his own blog.

The blog mentions a ‘summer event’ which snapped ‘him out of the vicious cycle’.

Hill, who was due to graduate from Huddersfield University this summer, admitted in his last blog entry to suffering ‘crippling anxiety attacks’ which acted as an ‘emotional straightjacket of despair’.

Before he was jailed, Hill helped secure a five-year deal for The Lazy Camper at the Isle of Man TT motorbike races, his website claims.