He said they took 2C-P.. I realised this could be much worse than a missing girl
Court hears how festival boss told accused to ‘cut to chase’ about actor’s daughter
TAGGART star John Michie cried out: “My daughter” when he saw police rushing to the location where her body was found, a court heard yesterday.
The actor, 62, and wife Carol Fletcher, 68, had dashed from their home to a music festival after hearing their girl Louella, 24, “screeching” down a phone.
Louella’s boyfriend Ceon Broughton is accused of giving her the party drug that killed her and filming her as she lay dying and even after she had passed away.
Winchester Crown Court yesterday heard that Broughton eventually asked staff at the Bestival event for help to find Louella, who was in a wooded area just off the site.
Jurors were told he was “dazed and vacant” when quizzed by staff and at first refused to reveal that he and Louella had been taking the drug 2C-P.
Bestival night manager Andrew McGrory said Broughton, 29, only admitted he and Louella had been taking the class A substance when he was finally told to “cut to the chase”.
In his notes, McGrory said it was then he realised “this could be much worse than a missing girl”.
Prosecutor Simon Jones read a section from a log McGrory had kept throughout the night of September 10, 2017, detailing what happened after Louella was reported missing.
Reading details of McGrory’s meeting with Broughton behind a bar on the grounds of the festival in Lulworth, Dorset, Jones said: “He was dazed and vacant and appeared to be under the influence but not really agitated.
“’I asked where he had last seen his girlfriend and he said in the woods.
“I asked what they were doing and got no response. Then he volunteered she was not well. I asked him if she was OK and got no response. I asked if she was breathing. He said ‘Yes’. He said she was cold and he had given her his coat.
“’I said, ‘Cut to the chase’ and asked had they taken drugs. He said they had taken 2C-P.”
Louella’s dad, who stars in Holby City, was in court during yesterday’s evidence.
PC Christopher Harrison told jurors about finding Louella. He said: “On route to the scene, we saw the father of the deceased. He called out to us but the security staff tried to dismiss him because we were going to an emergency.
“He called out, ‘My daughter’ and I said to him that was where we were going.
“When we got there, she was on her back. She had a lot of bramble marks all over her hands.
“I found (Louella’s) phone on the floor with a cracked screen but it had no battery life.
“It was sort of towards her feet, in the mud. I think it might have been trodden on.”
Jurors have heard the festival hospital site was 400m away from where Louella collapsed but Broughton did not seek help in the six hours he spent with her.
Prosecutor William Mousley QC said the Londoner didn’t get medical help for Louella as he was serving a suspended sentence and “didn’t want to be arrested”.
Broughton denies manslaughter and supplying class A drugs. The trial continues.