Louella Fletcher-Michie: Boyfriend tried six times to help TV star’s daughter as she died of drug overdose at Bestival, court hears
Ceon Broughton is accused of manslaughter and supplying Class A drugs to the daughter of Holby City actor John Michie
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Louella Fletcher-Michie’s boyfriend tried six times to get help to her as she overdosed before responding to the suggestion he call an ambulance by saying he was worried about getting arrested, a court heard.
Ceon Broughton, 29, of Enfield, north London, is now on trial accused of manslaughter and supplying Class A drugs after the daughter of Holby City actor John Michie was found dead at 1am on what should have been her 25th birthday.
Mr Broughton denies the charges but Winchester Crown Court has heard he filmed Ms Fletcher-Michie as she overdosed on the drug 2C-P at the Bestival festival in Dorset in September 2017.
In emotional testimony, Ms Fletcher-Michie’s family has accused Mr Broughton of failing to do enough to get her proper medical assistance, with John Michie telling the court: “I don’t know how you could ever say you loved someone if you have let them die in front of you.”
On Friday the jury was played a video clip that was found on Ms Fletcher-Michie’s phone, in which she can be heard saying “more fun tomorrow”. This may have been a reference to her birthday, which was on Monday 11 September 2017.
However, Ms Fletcher-Michie died later that night. The jury has been told her body was found in a wooded area 400 metres from the festival’s hospital tent.
A health expert, the court heard, estimated that Ms Fletcher-Michie would have had a 90 per cent chance of surviving the 2C-P overdose if there had been early medical intervention.
The court also heard that Mr Broughton, who had received a suspended prison sentence a month earlier, was told in a message from his friend Ezra Campbell to get an ambulance.
His reply, the court heard, was: “I can’t get bagged [arrested].”
But taking Mr Campbell through his message exchanges with Mr Broughton on Friday, Stephen Kamlish QC, defending, told him: “He tried six times, before saying that, to get help.
“He was telling the family to stay calm but he was saying to you: ‘You need to get the meds [medics].’”
The messages, the court heard, included Mr Broughton trying to tell Mr Campbell his location so the friend could summon help for Ms Fletcher-Michie.
Mr Campbell told the court Mr Broughton sent him a Google “pin drop” of his location, with the message: “Send meds to this location.”
Mr Campbell, the court heard, replied by telling Mr Broughton “I don’t have Google maps.”
Mr Campbell also told the jury that proper communication was hampered by poor mobile phone reception, so he only heard Mr Broughton say “forest” and “barbed wire” when he tried to describe his location.
Festival staff, the court heard, ended up searching in the “ambient forest” area of the festival, assuming Ms Fletcher-Michie was there because that was the only wooded part of the Bestival site that was open to the public.
The court heard, however, that Ms Fletcher-Michie had been in another “off-site” area that had been barricaded off from festival goers by steel gating.
Bestival security guard Wayne Harrington told the court he saw Mr Broughton emerge from this area and ask for a torch “so he could go and look for his girlfriend because she had taken an overdose”.
Mr Harrington said he used his torch to help Mr Broughton search but after about 15 minutes he felt he had to return to his post because he was under orders not to leave it.
He agreed when Mr Kamlish said: “He [Mr Broughton] was pretty desperate to find her, wasn’t he?”
Mr Kamlish suggested that Mr Harrington’s colleague eventually left Mr Broughton to search alone without a torch. Mr Harrington, however, replied: “I didn’t know that.”
Mr Broughton, the court heard, messaged Ms Fletcher-Michie’s mother Carol saying: “These p****s don’t give a f***.”
The trial continues.