Holby City star John Michie weeps for dead daughter at her boyfriend's drugs trial
He says his daughter "seemed very distressed", shouting things like "I hate you" while Broughton "didn't seem to be concerned".
Thursday 7 February 2019 20:20, UK
Actor John Michie has wept in court as he described the day his daughter died, telling jurors her boyfriend did not love her because he let her die from an overdose.
The Holby City star was giving evidence at the trial of Ceon Broughton, 29, who is accused of manslaughter and supplying Louella Fletcher-Michie with party drug 2-CP.
"I think Louella loved Ceon. I'm not sure he loved her. I don't know how you could ever say you loved someone if you left them to die in front of you," Mr Michie told jurors.
Ms Fletcher-Michie, 24, died after an overdose at the Bestival music festival in Dorset in September 2017.
She was given drugs by Broughton, her on-off boyfriend, who filmed her as her condition deteriorated and ignored her pleas to seek medical help, it is alleged.
Mr Michie told Winchester Crown Court his family were eating Sunday dinner in their north London home when they received a call from Broughton in which they could hear Louella shouting.
He said: "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."
Broughton "didn't seem to be concerned", Mr Michie said. He also claimed Broughton's voice, heard on loudspeaker, sounded "watery" and he did not seem "compos mentis".
"Obviously any normal person would be concerned," Mr Michie added.
Mr Michie and his wife, Louella's mother, Carol Fletcher-Michie, immediately drove to the festival to find her, but struggled to get in or persuade security staff to look for her.
Louella, who taught voga (a combination of yoga and dance), was found dead by a security steward in woodland, 400m from the festival's hospital tent, at around 1am, after Broughton left her to seek help.
Mr Michie, who issued a statement supporting Broughton after her death, said he had not realised "how he had not taken her to get help, how he had seen her in a very, very distressed state and how, I believe, he possibly even filmed her after she has died".
An emotional Ms Fletcher-Michie, who said she had "trusted" Broughton, who had once spent a Christmas with the family, told the court she believed Louella loved Broughton "more than anyone she had before".
Louella's sister Daisy Fletcher-Michie and her brother Sam Fletcher-Michie also told the court how they had "begged" Broughton on the phone to take Louella to a medical tent.
The court was previously shown a 50-minute video of Louella in which she shouts at Broughton to "film me", "call my mum" and "call my brother, call my sister".
He also took a photo of Louella around the time she died as she lay motionless in undergrowth with her eyes closed, the court heard.
Broughton, of Enfield, north London, denies manslaughter and supplying Louella the drug.
The trial continues.