Taggart star sobs for tragic daughter
Accused ‘didn’t seem concerned’, dad tells court
HOLBY City actor John Michie has told a court his daughter’s boyfriend did not love her because he let her die from an overdose.
Louella Fletcher-Michie, 24, was given drugs by her on-off boyfriend Ceon Broughton, 29, and died as her parents rushed to help her, it is alleged.
Michie said he thought Louella and Broughton’s relationship was “beautiful to see” and that he had issued a statement in support of Broughton following his initial arrest.
He told jurors: “I think Louella loved Ceon. I’m not sure he loved her. I don’t know how you could ever say you loved someone if you left them to die in front of you.”
The actor wept in the witness stand at Winchester Crown Court yesterday as he gave evidence about the day of her death.
Louella took the class A party drug 2-CP at Bestival in Dorset on September 10 2017 and died in woodland an hour before her 25th birthday.
Broughton, of Enfield, north London, denies manslaughter and supplying Louella the drug.
The jury heard how her family were eating Sunday dinner in their north London home when they received a call from Broughton in which Louella could also be heard.
Michie said: “The thing that I most remember was that Louella seemed very distressed. I could hear her in the background shouting, ‘I hate you, I don’t trust you’, obviously referring to Ceon.”
Referring to Broughton’s manner on the phone, he added: “He didn’t seem to be concerned, I thought.”
Louella’s worried parents jumped in their car to go to find their daughter at the festival but they struggled to gain entry and persuade security to look for her.
The couple’s daughter was eventually found dead by a security steward in the woodland, 450 yards from the festival’s hospital tent, at about 1am, after Broughton left her to seek help.
Louella’s sister Daisy and her brother Sam also told the court how they had “begged” Broughton to take Louella to a medical tent.
A tearful Daisy said she “wanted to believe Ceon had done everything he could” to help her sister but claimed he “did nothing to help her and put himself first”.
The trial continues.