Louella drug death conviction quashed

A DRUG-dealing rapper jailed for giving Holby City star John Michie’s daughter a fatal overdose is set to be freed after his manslaughter conviction was quashed.

The Appeal Court ruled there was not enough evidence to prove that Ceon Broughton was responsible for the death of girlfriend Louella Fletcher-Michie.

The 24-year-old died after she took the super-strength version of party drug 2-CP, which Broughton gave her during the Bestival music event three years ago.

Winchester Crown Court heard the 31-year-old rapper – who had been welcomed into the Michie family – had filmed Louella as she lay dying, instead of getting help.

Mr Justice Goose gave him seven years for manslaughter and 18 months for supplying drugs and breaching a suspended term.

Yesterday’s quashing of the more serious offence means he is now set to walk free after serving nearly all of the additional time handed down in March last year.

Legal sources expect Broughton, of Enfield, North London, to be released from jail within days.

Proof

Allowing his appeal, Lord Burnett said: “The evidence adduced by the prosecution was incapable of proving causation to the criminal standard of proof.”

He added: “We conclude that the appellant’s main argument, that the case should have been withdrawn from the jury, is established.”

Michie, 63, who also starred in Holby City’s BBC One forerunner Casualty and ITV detective drama Taggart, declined to comment.

But during the trial, he wept in the witness box as he revealed his bitterness at Broughton – who he had thought was a “good person” who loved his daughter.

He told the jury: “I think that Louella loved Ceon but I’m not sure he loved her.”

The actor glared at the defendant as he added: “I don’t know how you can say you love someone who you left to die in front of you.”

In a court waiting area, he also branded him “evil” before Broughton lost his temper and damaged a table and water cooler.

Louella died at the festival at Lulworth Castle, Dorset, one hour before her 25th birthday, after her boyfriend gave her the “bumpedup” Class A drug. In her final moments, she was caught on camera saying: “My mum and dad, my brother and sister, I love you lot.”

John and wife Carol rushed to the scene after hearing their daughter’s distress in the background of a telephone call with Broughton.

Stephen Kamlish QC, for Broughton, told the appeal: “The Crown cannot prove, now or at trial, that she would have lived had

Louella, caption: left, Is in died 8.5pt from helvetica an overdose bold except of a drug her boyfriend Broughton, right, gave her at Bestival in 2017, above. Below, her parents John and Carol

she been treated. What the Crown are arguing now is that by depriving the deceased of the chance of surviving via medical treatment she would have lived but that also means she might or might not have lived.

“That is hardly the correct text on which the Crown can prove causation. The appellant was trying to get help. described as negligent.”

He said Broughton felt unable to leave Louella while she was suffering a “bad trip” but had not realised she was at risk of death.

After the hearing, Mr Kamlish’s team said: “Ceon remains devastated by her death. He has always wished that he could have done more to save her.

“He loved Louella, and she him, but he knows that no words will ever be sufficient to convey his sense of responsibility.”

So he cannot be criminally grossly