Rapper has his conviction overturned for killing Holby City actor’s daughter with party drugs at Bestival
A rapper today had his conviction overturned for the manslaughter of his girlfriend who died after taking a hallucinogenic drug at Bestival.
Ceon Broughton’s girlfriend Louella Fletcher-Michie died after taking 2-CP during the music festival at Lulworth Castle in Dorset, three years ago.
Miss Fletcher-Michie, the daughter of Holby City and Coronation Street actor John Michie, was found dead in a wooded area at the edge of the festival site.
Ceon Broughton pictured with girlfriend Louella Fletcher-Michie, who died in September 2017
Broughton (left, pictured in Febraury 2019) has had his conviction overturned for the manslaughter of Miss Fletcher-Michie (right), who died after taking the drug 2C-P at Bestival
She was discovered in the early hours of September 11, 2017 – the day she should have celebrated her 25th birthday.
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.
Actor John Michie outside Winchester Crown Court after Broughton was found guilty of killing his daughter on February 28, 2019
But Broughton challenged his manslaughter conviction and his jail term at a Court of Appeal hearing in June, and three judges announced their decision to overturn it today.
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. The jury at Broughton’s trial found him guilty of manslaughter by gross negligence.
He was also found guilty of supplying Miss Fletcher-Michie with 2-CP at the festival.
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.
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.
Lord Chief Justice Lord Burnett, Mr Justice Sweeney and Mr Justice Murray gave their ruling this morning.