Rapper who filmed girlfriend dying after taking drugs at Bestival has manslaughter conviction overturned

Rapper Ceon Broughton, who gave his girlfriend drugs at a music festival and then filmed her as she lay dying rather than getting help, has had his conviction for manslaughter quashed by the Court of Appeal.

Louella Fletcher-Michie, the daughter of Holby City actor John Michie, died after taking the hallucinogenic class A drug 2-CP at the Bestival music festival in September 2017.

Her 31-year-old boyfriend was sentenced to eight and a half years in prison after he was found guilty of gross negligence manslaughter in February last year.

But the Court of Appeal overturned the conviction after his lawyers argued that the jury could not be sure Miss Fletcher-Michie would have survived if she had received medical attention.

During the trial, Winchester Crown Court had heard how Broughton filmed her as she lay dying from a drugs overdose rather than going to a nearby medical tent to get help.

Prosecutors claimed Broughton had failed to take “reasonable” steps to seek medical help for Miss Fletcher-Michie because he had been given a suspended jail term for possessing a lock-knife and a Stanley knife blade a month earlier and feared the consequences.

But at his appeal hearing Stephen Kamlish QC, questioned whether jurors could have been sure that Miss Fletcher-Michie would have survived if she had she received appropriate treatment.

He also argued that the sentence was “excessive”.

Quashing the conviction at the Court of Appeal, Lord Burnett said: “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.

“That expert evidence was not capable of establishing causation to the criminal standard.”

Broughton was also convicted for supplying Class A drugs and he did not appeal that conviction.

The appeal was heard before The Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales, Mr Justice Sweeney and Mr Justice Murray.

In a statement issued after the appeal ruling , Broughton said he remained devastated by the death of his girlfriend.

A statement issued by Birnberg Peirce Solicitors said: “The Court of Appeal has today found that Louella’s death occurred not as a result of criminal negligence but was instead a tragic accident.

“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.”

Broughton’s trial heard how he gave his girlfriend a “bumped up” dose of the Class A party drug 2-CP.

Medical experts told the jury she could have been saved if he had walked just “30 or more steps” in order to get her medical help from a nearby hospital tent.

But the Appeal judges ruled that the expert evidence was not capable of establishing causation to the criminal standard.

• The Telegraph, UK