Rapper jailed over death of star’s daughter waits for appeal result

A RAPPER jailed for the manslaughter of the daughter of a Holby City actor is waiting to hear whether he has won an appeal.

Louella Fletcher-Michie, inset, daughter of actor John Michie, died after taking the hallucinogenic drug 2-CP during the Bestival music festival, at Lulworth Castle, Dorset, in September 2017.

She was found dead in the early hours of September 11, the day on which she should have celebrated her 25th birthday, in a wooded area on the edge of the festival site.

Her boyfriend, Ceon Broughton, 31, of Enfield, north London, was handed an eightand-a-half-year sentence, in March 2019, following a trial at Winchester Crown Court.

Three appeal judges considered the case at a virtual Court of Appeal hearing yesterday. The three judges, Lord Burnett, the Lord Chief Justice and most senior judge in England and Wales, Mr Justice Sweeney and Mr Justice Murray, said they would announce their decision at a later date. Lawyers representing Broughton argued that he had been wrongly convicted and said that, in any event, the sentence was excessive. Prosecutors said the appeal should be dismissed. Jurors had found Broughton guilty of manslaughter by gross negligence. Broughton was also found guilty of supplying Miss Fletcher-Michie with 2-CP, at the festival. He had previously admitted supplying drugs to Miss Fletcher-Michie at the Glastonbury festival, in June 2017, and was in breach of a suspended prison sentence imposed for possessing a lock knife and a Stanley knife blade.

Prosecutors had told jurors that Broughton failed to take “reasonable” steps to seek medical help for Miss Fletcher-Michie.

They said Broughton did not get help because he had been handed a suspended jail term a month earlier and feared the consequences.

But Stephen Kamlish QC, who led Broughton’s defence team, questioned, at the appeal hearing, whether jurors could have been sure that Miss Fletcher-Michie would have lived if she had received appropriate treatment.

Mr Kamlish said jurors had to be sure that any “breach of duty” by Broughton was a “substantial” cause of death.