Boyfriend of Holby City star John Michie’s daughter discusses overdose

The rapper ex-boyfriend of Holby star John Michie blamed the actor and his wife for his own failure to get medical help for their daughter as she died of a drugs overdose at Bestival, a court heard today.

When quizzed by police about Louella Fletcher-Michie’s death, Ceon Broughton, 29, denied giving her the drugs or taking anything himself at the music festival in September 2017. The pair had split up as a couple earlier that year but were still friends. 

The grime star claimed he would have carried Louella to the medical tent just 400 yards away, but Mr Mitchie, 62, and his wife Carol, 68, instead told him on the phone to get help from someone in a ‘high-vis’ jacket. 

Jurors have heard he was serving a suspended sentence at the time, which prosecutors allege is why he did not seek help for his dying ex.

During his first police interview, Broughton allegedly lied to officers and told them he had not taken drugs with Louella and did not know how she had got party drug 2C-P, which he suggested was actually LSD.

Mr Michie, who has also been on Coronation Street and Taggart, watched with his family from the public gallery as Winchester Crown Court heard details of Broughton’s first police interview today.

In the interview, carried out at Poole police station the day after Louella died – on what should have been her 25th birthday – Broughton claimed she had bought the drugs herself when he was not around.

He told officers: ‘I think she bought something, she bought LSD or something.

‘We was just having fun and just chilling in the woods. 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 and stuff.

‘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.’

Louella Fletcher-Michie (pictured in undated photos) died at Bestival after taking a psychedelic party drug  

Pictured left to right: Louella’s sister, Daisy, and her boyfriend, Jamie Jamieson; and John Mitchie and his wife, Carol (outside Winchester Crown Court today) 

Broughton said Louella had left him as he ate a toasted sandwich at lunch time, which is when he thought she had bought the drugs.

Prosecutor Simon Jones told Winchester Crown Court: ‘He told officers it was definitely LSD she had taken, because she had said she had taken it.

‘He confirmed later on that he did not see where she got it from and she had not said anything. He said he did not take anything.

‘[Broughton] said, ‘I am on community service right now, so I can’t get into trouble’. When asked, he said, ‘no, I did not give her anything’.

‘At the end, he was asked if he wanted to add anything else. Broughton said, ‘I am very distressed about this. I am in pieces man. She’s not coming back’.’

In a second interview, later the same day, he told officers again he had not taken drugs at the Lulworth Castle site, Dorset, but had only had two cans of cider and two lagers.

Mr Jones said: ‘He said he did not have a clear memory of the timings, but he was thinking clearly and trying to act rationally. He was asked if he was not telling the officers something, he said ‘something I am not telling you? No there’s nothing’.

‘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”.’

Prosecutors allege that Broughton (seen with Louella) did not get her medical care straight away because he was on a suspended sentence 

Mr Michie posted this picture on Instagram on the one-year anniversary of his daughter’s death

Mr Michie said he desperately pleaded with security staff to let him into the site to help his dying daughter and even offered them his phone which contained a pinpoint GPS location of the couple

The junior prosecutor added Broughton had claimed to officers that when he told friends at the festival he had drugs with him he was simply joking, adding they would often joke about things like that.

But during the trial, jurors have heard blood samples taken from Broughton revealed he had MDMA, ketamine, diazepam and alprazolam in his system, as well as 2C-P.

The court has heard former Coronation Street star Mr Michie and his wife, a dancer with Hot Gossip, made a desperate 130-mile dash from north London to Bestival after hearing a hallucinating Louella screech down the phone ‘like a wild animal’.

Broughton, who has recorded with top rap artists Skepta and Wiley, filmed his ex-girlfriend tripping on 2C-P, continuing to do so as her condition worsened and even allegedly after she died.

The on-site hospital was a mere 400 yards 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.

Prosecutor William Mousley QC said the rapper could have saved her if he had sought medical help, but did not as he ‘didn’t want to be arrested ‘as he was serving a suspended sentence and would likely be jailed.

Jurors have also been shown shocking footage of Louella hallucinating wildly ad repeatedly shouting ‘mum’, as well as ‘dad, I love you’, before slapping herself on the legs.

An audio clip revealed Broughton laughed at his ex before she appeared to start eating thorns.

Grisly ‘live’ iPhone images, taken by Broughton at 11.25pm on September 10 2017, show a lifeless Louella laying on her back with bloodied hands.

It has been heard Louella is the first person to have died in the world from a 2C-P overdose, which Broughton is alleged to have ‘bumped up’.

Broughton, of Enfield, London, denies manslaughter and supplying Class A drugs.

The trial continues next week.

The on-off couple, pictured here in 2016. The court has heard Broughton gave Louella a ‘bumped up’ dose of 2C-P and even filmed her after she died

Louella (left) is pictured with her Coronation Street actor father in an undated photo