Ceon Broughton’s manslaughter conviction over Louella Fletcher-Michie’s death at Bestival overturned

Broughton was sentenced to eight-and-a-half years in jail in March 2019

Ceon Broughton, who was found guilty of manslaughter over the death of Louella Fletcher-Michie at Bestival in 2017, has had his manslaughter conviction overturned following an appeal.

Broughton, 31, was jailed for a total of eight-and-a-half years in March 2019 — seven years of which were for manslaughter — after he was found guilty of manslaughter by gross negligence and supplying a Class A drug.

Fletcher-Michie, the daughter of Holby City actor John Michie, died in September 2017 after taking the hallucinogenic class A drug 2-CP that was supplied to her by Broughton, who was her boyfriend, while they were attending Bestival.

Broughton, who used to perform as a rapper under the name CeonRPG, supplied Fletcher-Michie with a “bumped-up” dose of the drug, and the court heard how he had recorded her on his iPhone as she became “disturbed, agitated, and then seriously ill”.

Three judges at the Court of Appeal have today (August 18) ruled to overturn the manslaughter conviction.

In their ruling, Lord Chief Justice Burnett said “expert evidence” on the likelihood of Fletcher-Michie’s chances of survival had she received treatment sooner was “was not capable of establishing causation to the criminal standard”.

Louella Fletcher-Michie
Louella Fletcher-Michie

The judges have not ordered a retrial, and clarified that Broughton’s conviction for supplying Fletcher-Michie with 2-CP still stands.

In a statement, Broughton’s lawyers 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.”

A representative for John Michie declined to comment on the outcome of the appeal.

In a victim impact statement that was read during Broughton’s trial, Michie said: “I wake up every morning to face life starting again without Louella, our daughter, our sister, our friend, our family now broken.”

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