He called her a ‘drama queen’ and failed to get help

Louella Michie's boyfriend filmed her as she was "disturbed, agitated, and seriously ill" after taking 2-CP and continued to film her after she died, a court heard today.

Ceon Broughton called Louella a "drama queen" and failed to seek assistance as she lay dying, hours before her 25th birthday. He told her "put your phone away" as she was shouting for her mum, the court heard.

Footage presented also shows Louella saying it was the "best trip I've ever had", and asking Mr Broughton to "make sure this goes on YouTube". She said: "This is mad. I'm so happy, the best day of my life. I've taken acid before. This ain't acid. I was not expecting this. Mum, I love you. Dad, I love you… I see through everything."

Bestival death: Louella Michie 'died after drug use' https://t.co/QmjY3qGAes — BBC News (UK) (@BBCNews) February 28, 2018

The daughter of Holby City star John Michie was found dead in woods just 400 metres from the festival's medical centre at 1:15am. An inquest revealed Louella had taken MDMA, Ketamine, and 2CP.

Recordings show Louella making incoherent high-pitched noises and grunts. A male voice tells her: "Stop eating these thorns. You're just going to cut your beautiful skin."

Videos filmed after 9pm show loud screams and blood-covered hands. A photo taken at 11.24pm shows a person, thought to be Louella, lying on the ground with her eyes closed.

Her boyfriend, grime musician Ceon Broughton, is now on trial at Winchester Crown Court. He has denied charges of manslaughter and supplying drugs.

The court heard Ceon didn't seek medical help for Louella for over six hours as he feared activating a suspended prison sentence, given to him a month before the festival.

Ceon filmed Louella throughout a "terrible period of suffering". The prosecution said he continued to film her after she had died.

Footage from the hours before her death was played to the court. At one point Loella can be heard saying: "Trip up, magical monkey riding the forest, this is acid bruv."

In one video Louella repeatedly shouts at Ceon asking him to phone her mum, but he tells her to "put your phone away".

Carol Fletcher-Michie, her mum, could "hear her screeching" when she then spoke to Louella just before 7pm. She became so concerned her parents immediately set off from North London to the festival in Dorset.

En route, her dad sent a text to boyfriend Ceon asking if he'd tried seeking medical help, as did her brother Sam.

Medical expert Professor Charles Deakin told the court she would have had a 90 per cent chance of Louella surviving if she had been treated in time.

When Ceon replied, he told Sam to "call back in an hour" and said Louella was a "drama queen".

Sam then asked if Louella had taken 2CP, and Ceon replied "Yeah, but I bumped it up a bit".

Sam took this to mean "a larger dose or a combination of it with other drugs".

The prosecution claims Ceon sent a friend a text reading: "I can't get bagged".

In addition to the unrelated suspended sentence imposed a month earlier, Ceon had already pleaded guilty to supplying Class A drugs at Glastonbury earlier that summer.

Ceon's defence solicitor said the couple liked to film each other whilst high, and Ceon had tried to carry Louella out of the woods but failed because of hills, thorns, and nettles.

He said: "Ceon and Louella were in love with each other and willingly chose to take drugs together. Mistakes, even serious mistakes… are nowhere near enough for a crime such as this to be guilty.

"He couldn't actually have done any more than he did… in this difficult and frightening situation."

Ceon had tried to get Louella help at an earlier stage and had tried to restrain her himself when she was "thrashing about" and "injuring herself".

The defence added there were no recorded deaths from taking 2CP, and that Louella had bought drugs before Ceon arrived at the festival. A toxicology report found she had also taken Ketamine and MDMA before her death.

Prosecutor William Mousley said: "Louella went through a terrible period of suffering in the woods by the festival — all while [Ceon] Broughton observed.

"Worse still, he as her boyfriend was alone with her when they had the bad effects. He had a responsibility to get her treatment.

"Any reasonable person would have realised her life was in danger.

"Had she been treated there is good reason to believe she would have recovered.

"His failure to get her treatment, which alone would have saved her life, was borne out of selfishness and self-preservation.

"He knew it would expose him to arrest and prosecution when he was subject of a suspended sentence.

"The choice to put his own liberty before the life of a friend is a shocking indictment."

Before the trial members of the jury were asked if they regularly watched Holby City, in which Louella's father John Mitchie appears as a consultant neurosurgeon.

Related stories recommended by this writer:

• Everything we know so far about the Bestival death

• Louella Michie, who died at Bestival overdosed on 2C-P, ecstasy and ketamine

• A tribute to Louella Michie, the North London girl who was friends with everyone