Taggart star John Michie has spoken of his family’s “life sentence” as the rapper boyfriend of his daughter was convicted of her manslaughter.
Ceon Broughton, of Enfield, London, was found guilty of being responsible for the death of Louella Fletcher-Michie after he “bumped up” her dose of a so-called party drug then filmed her as she suffered an extreme reaction.
The 30-year-old was also found guilty at Winchester Crown Court of supplying Miss Fletcher-Michie with the drug 2-CP before her death at the Bestival music festival.
Speaking outside court, Holby City actor Mr Michie said: “Regardless of the outcome of this harrowing trial, there were never going to be any winners. We began our life sentence on what would have been Louella’s 25th birthday, Ceon’s life sentence is knowing he didn’t help Louella to live.”
Broughton was also found guilty at Winchester Crown Court of supplying her with the drug at the festival in Dorset on September 10, 2017. The defendant, who will be sentenced today, showed no emotion as the verdicts were announced, except to shout to his lawyers: “Text my mum”.
Mr Michie, 62, then turned to the father of his daughter’s killer and said: “You have my sympathy”. His wife fled the courtroom in tears.
The actor – who played DI Robbie Ross in Taggart and Karl Munro in Coronation Street, as well as CEO Guy Self in Holby City – has sat in the public gallery with his wife, Carol, a former Hot Gossip dancer, and two children, Sam and Penny, throughout the trial.
The jury at the court had begun deliberating at 12pm on Wednesday and reached a verdict at about 3pm yesterday.
Miss Fletcher-Michie, a yoga and dance teacher, of Islington, North London, is thought to be the first person to have died after taking the drug, passing away an hour before her 25th birthday in woodland at the festival.
The trial heard she had “limited” experience of drugs but had a “fatal attraction” to Broughton, a rap artist, who goes by the stage name CEONRPG, with whom she had had a year-long, on-off relationship.
The prosecution said Broughton failed to take “reasonable” steps to seek medical help for her and the jury was shown videos taken by the defendant as her condition deteriorated – and possibly after she had died.
In clips shown to the court, Miss Fletcher-Michie repeatedly shouts at Broughton to telephone her mother, Carol Fletcher-Michie, but he tells her to “put your phone away”.
Her mother eventually contacted Broughton at 6.48pm and heard her daughter “screeching” before she rushed with her husband to the festival site in a bid to find her daughter.
Mrs Fletcher-Michie had previously told the court: “I couldn’t believe that was her voice and that’s the last time I heard her voice.”
Prosecutor William Mousley QC claimed Broughton did not get help because he was handed a suspended jail term one month earlier and feared the consequences. He said that Broughton had given the drugs to Miss Fletcher-Michie and therefore had a duty of care to look after her.
Miss Fletcher-Michie was found dead by a security steward in the woodland, 400 metres from the festival’s hospital tent, at about 1am.
A post-mortem examination found “2-CP toxicity” and traces of ketamine and MDMA.
Simon Jones, senior Crown Prosecution Service advocate, told the court Broughton’s lies and failure to give evidence meant the full reason for his inaction would remain unknown. He said: “Only Ceon Broughton knows that.”
It emerged yesterday that when the grieving family came face-to-face with Broughton in the court building during the trial, Mr Michie told him he was “evil” and Broughton smashed up a table, screamed and hit himself.
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