Louella Fletcher-Michie court case: Boyfriend told friend 'if fam asks, say a random gave us 2C-P' as woman was dying from overdose, jurors told
Friend Ezra Campbell and Bestival staff gave evidence at court in Winchester
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Ceon Broughton, the man accused of manslaughter over the death by drug overdose of Louella Fletcher-Michie at a music festival, tried six times to help her on his own before calling an ambulance, Winchester Crown Court has heard.
Mr Broughton, 29 and from Enfield in north London, is on trial and also accused of supplying the Class A drug 2C-P to Ms Fletcher-Michie, who was found dead at Bestival at 1am on 11 September 2017, which should have been her 25th birthday.
The court heard that Mr Broughton filmed Louella as she overdosed at the event in Dorset and subsequently exchanged panicked text messages with a friend, instructing him: “If the fam asks, say a random gave us 2C-P.”
As he took the stand at Winchester Crown Court on Thursday, the girl’s father, Holby City actor John Michie, had looked over to the dock and stared hard at his daughter’s boyfriend. He told the court: “Louella loved Ceon. I don’t think he loved her.
“I don’t know how you could ever say you loved someone if you have let them die in front of you.”
Mr Michie wept in the witness stand as he recalled the day of her death and his final phone call with Ms Fletcher-Michie.
He told the jury: “The thing that I most remember was that Louella seemed very distressed. I could hear her in the background shouting things like ‘I hate you, I don’t trust you’, obviously referring to Ceon.
“I’ve never heard her speak in that way. It almost didn’t sound like her.”
Mr Broughton’s voice, on loudspeaker, sounded “watery”, “without energy in it” and he did not seem “compos mentis”, Mr Michie said.
He added: “He didn’t seem to be concerned, I thought. Obviously any normal person would be concerned.”
The discussion of how to reconcile the timings of the messages with what is in the jurors' evidence bundles continues.
As it does so, Broughton has been having a brief, whispered conversation with a member of his legal team.
Mr Campbell has asked to clarify the intention behind his message telling Boughton to "act like you don't know her".
He says: "It didn't mean walk away from her. That's not how I meant it."
He says some newspaper reports had misinterpreted the meaning of his message.
Mr Campbell finishes his evidence.
His final explanation was to say that he had been reluctant to talk to the police more than once "for obvious reasons."
Referring to the experience of having to go into the witness box and give evidence, he adds: "I don't want to be here."
The court will now take a half-hour break.
Olivia Moedt, a member of Bestival staff, is being called to the witness stand.
Ms Moedt was an "ambience manager" helping with customer support, alongside her colleague Olivia Thorogood.
Shortly after 7pm, Ms Moedt received a call from Louella's mother Carol who was extremely concerned, the court hears.
Ms Moedt breaks down in tears as she confirms she was told by Carol that she had heard her daughter "screaming like an animal".
She sounded "terrified", Ms Moedt says.
"When I spoke to Carol, she was really worried, and I was really worried too," says Ms Moedt. "I called everyone I could to help me."
Because there had been a mistaken assumption that Louella was in the ambient forest, a decision was made to look there, the court hears.
The court hears that Ms Moedt put Carol on hold while she alerted her boss Liam Mayet.
She then told Carol that people were going to go out and search for her daughter.
Ms Moedt told the court: "Carol said 'What should I do? Should I come down'. I said yes.
She added: "I gave her my mobile number, and said she should call it if there was anything I could help with."
Ms Moedt again fought back tears as the court heard a message had been sent to her, but she hadn't immediately picked it up.
"I lost reception," she said. "Where we were allocated [for accommodation] there was no reception, which is why I didn't get the message until the next morning."
That concludes her evidence.
The next witness is Ms Moedt's colleague Gemma Thorogood.