Rapper boyfriend’s defence
BY DAILY RECORD REPORTER THE rapper boyfriend of Holby star John Michie blamed the Scottish actor and his wife for his own failure to get medical help for their daughter as she died of a drugs overdose.
A court heard yesterday that, when questioned by police about Louella Fletcher-Michie’s death, Ceon Broughton, 29, denied giving her the drugs and allegedly lied by saying he had not taken any at the Bestival music festival.
The grime star said that, with a medical tent just 400 metres away, he’d have carried 24-yearold Louella there but claimed her 68-year-old mum, Carol, and dad John, 62, instead told him by phone to get help from someone in a “high-vis” jacket.
Prosecutors claim Broughton was serving a suspended sentence and this was why he did not seek help for his dying girlfriend.
Broughton allegedly lied to police by telling them he hadn’t taken drugs with her and did not know how she got party drug 2C-P, which he suggested was actually LSD.
Coronation Street and Taggart star Michie watched with his family from the public gallery as jurors heard details of Broughton’s first interview at Poole police station the day after Louella died, her 25th birthday. He told officers she bought the drugs herself when he was not there.
He said: “I think she bought something, she bought LSD or something.
“She was tripping and then she said she had acid. She was fine at first, then it kind of spiralled.
“I called her mum and she told me to get to someone in high vis. I was trying to calm [Louella] down, she was rolling around in stinging nettles.
“Her mum and dad said they were on their way. I wanted to carry her, I wanted to carry her myself, but they told me to get help. I would have carried her myself.”
He said Louella may have bought the drugs when she left him as he ate a toastie for lunch.
Prosecutor Simon Jones told Winchester Crown Court that Broughton told officers Louella had “definitely” taken LSD. He also told police: “I am on community service right now, so I can’t get into trouble.”
In a second interview, later the same day, he told officers again he had not taken drugs at the Lulworth Castle site, Dorset, and had just drank two cans of cider and two of lager. Mr Jones said: “The officers suggested he had not ensured Louella got the medical attention she needed. He said, ‘Yeah man, I did. Oh man, I was trying to give her good medical care’.
“He confirmed he did not dial 999. He said that was because people said they were sending help.
“The officers suggested he might have been tripping himself. He said, ‘I was in a good position to take care of her. I acted rationally. You’re talking like I want her to be dead’.
“The officers confirmed no one was suggesting that but they indicated he was not giving her the best care because he had taken drugs. He said, ‘I was caring for her. I was, I was, I was caring for her’.”
Jurors have heard blood samples from Broughton showed he’d MDMA, ketamine, diazepam and alprazolam in his system as well as 2C-P.
The court has heard Michie and his wife, a Hot Gossip dancer, dashed 130-mile from north London to Bestival after hearing a hallucinating Louella screech down the phone “like a wild animal”.
Broughton, who has recorded with rap artists Skepta and Wiley, filmed her tripping even allegedly after she died.
The on-site hospital was a mere 400 metres away from the woodland they were in, yet the court heard Broughton did not seek help in the six hours he spent with Louella there.
Jurors have also been shown disturbing footage of Louella hallucinating and shouting for her parents. Broughton was recorded laughing and iPhone images he took at 11.25pm on September 10, 2017, show her lying lifeless on her back with bloodied hands.
The court heard Louella is the first person to have died of a 2C-P overdose. Broughton, of Enfield, London, is alleged to have “bumped-up” the drug.
He denies manslaughter and supplying class A drugs.
The trial continues.