Rapper who left Holby star’s daughter to die says he ‘wished he’d saved her’ as conviction quashed
A RAPPER today said he "wished he could have saved" the daughter of a Holby City star as he had his manslaughter conviction over her drug death quashed.
Ceon Broughton, 31, was sentenced to eight years behind bars for the manslaughter of girlfriend Louella Fletcher-Michie having been accused of leaving her to die after giving her an hallucinogenic at Bestival in 2017.
Miss Fletcher-Michie, daughter of Holby City and Coronation Street actor John Michie, died after taking 2C-P that Broughton had given her during the music festival at Lulworth Castle, Dorset.
But Broughton challenged his manslaughter conviction and his jail term at a Court of Appeal hearing with a High Court judge today agreeing with his argument that Miss Fletcher-Michie's chances of survival, had she received treatment sooner, was "not capable of establishing causation to the criminal standard".
In a statement released by Broughton's lawyers today, the young man said he was still "devastated" by her death.
The statement read: "Ceon remains devastated by her death. He has always wished that he could have done more to save her.
"He loved Louella and she him, but he knows that no words will ever be sufficient to convey his sense of responsibility for what happened or to begin to remove the pain that others have been caused."
The young woman had been found dead in the early hours of September 11, the day she should have celebrated her 25th birthday, in a wooded area at the edge of the festival site.
Broughton, 31, of Enfield, north London, was found guilty of manslaughter by gross negligence and handed an eight-and-a-half-year sentence in March 2019, following a trial at Winchester Crown Court.
At the High Court today Lord Burnett quashed the conviction saying: "In our view, this is one of those rare cases where the expert evidence was all that the jury had to assist them in answering the question on causation.
"The appeal against conviction for manslaughter must be allowed."
NIGHT OF TRAGEDY
The manslaughter trial over Miss Fletcher-Michie's death had previously heard how Broughton took “sadistic pleasure” in giving women drugs then filming them spiralling out of control – months before the overdose death of TV star’s daughter.
As February 2019 trial concluded, it was heard Broughton had a disturbing history of plying girlfriends with illegal substances then capturing them suffering on his iPhone - as he did with the 24-year-old.
The drug-dealing musician was also said to have an unhealthy interest in death — with pictures on his phone described as “grotesque” in court of dead or dying people.
As he was found guilty last year, the young woman's dad John Michie read out an emotional statement, telling him: "You're evil".
"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."
But at the appeal hearing, Broughton's barrister Stephen Kamlish QC argued the conviction was unsafe because prosecutors had "failed to prove" that Miss Fletcher-Michie would have survived had she received treatment by a certain point.
He also argued Broughton's sentence was "excessive" in any event.
He argued: "The Crown cannot prove, now or at trial, that she would have lived had see been treated.
"The appellant was trying to get help. So he cannot be described as criminally grossly negligent.";
He said Broughton had felt unable to leave Miss Fletcher-Michie alone, in woods, while she was suffering a "bad trip", and he had not realised she was at risk of death.
The jury at Broughton's trial had found him guilty of manslaughter by gross negligence.
He was also found guilty of supplying Miss Fletcher-Michie with 2C-P at the festival.
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Broughton previously admitted supplying drugs to Miss Fletcher-Michie at 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.
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Prosecutors told jurors during his trial that Broughton failed to take "reasonable" steps to seek medical help for Miss Fletcher-Michie.
They said he did not get help because he had been handed the suspended jail term a month earlier and feared the consequences.
