The rapper Ceon Broughton has had his conviction for the manslaughter of his girlfriend overturned by the court of appeal. Louella Fletcher-Michie, 24, died after taking the drug 2C-P at the Bestival music festival in September 2017. Broughton, 31, who raps under the stage name CEONRPG, was convicted of manslaughter by gross negligence after a trial at Winchester crown court in February last year. But the conviction and his seven-year sentence were quashed on Tuesday on grounds of insufficient evidence to meet a criminal standard of proof. Explaining the decision of the three judges, Lord Burnett said the expert evidence on the likelihood of Fletcher-Michie’s chances of survival had she received treatment sooner was “not capable of establishing causation to the criminal standard”. “Taken at its highest, the evidence adduced by the prosecution was incapable of proving causation to the criminal standard of proof.” In the ruling, Burnett set out how Broughton made attempts to get help as he realised Fletcher-Michie was unwell, telling a friend to “get the medics” and sending a pin of his location in the wooded area using Google Maps. The judge said the only expert jurors had to rely on as to whether Broughton’s actions contributed “significantly” to Fletcher-Michie’s death had suggested she would have had a 90% chance of survival had she been provided with medical treatment at 9.10pm, nearly five hours after she took the drug. Given that the criminal standard of proof requires jurors to be sure “beyond reasonable doubt”, Burnett said the expert’s evidence was “not enough”, so the issue of whether Broughton caused his girlfriend’s death by gross negligence should not have been left to the jury to decide. It is expected Broughton will be released, as he has served his remaining sentence. Seven years of the sentence was for the manslaughter conviction, and the court of appeal has not ordered a retrial. Broughton’s conviction for supplying Fletcher-Michie with the hallucinogenic intoxicant 2-CP at the festival stands. He previously admitted supplying her with drugs at the Glastonbury festival, in June 2017, and was in breach of a suspended prison sentence imposed for possessing a lock knife and a Stanley knife blade. The original trial heard that Broughton supplied Fletcher-Michie, daughter of the Holby City actor John Michie, with 2-CP at the festival before she died. Stephen Kamlish QC, for Broughton, told the court of appeal: “The crown cannot prove, now or at trial, that she would have lived had she been treated. “What the crown are arguing now is that by depriving the deceased of the chance of surviving via medical treatment she would have lived but that also means she might or might not have lived.” He said Broughton had felt unable to leave Fletcher-Michie alone, in woods, while she was suffering a “bad trip”, and he had not realised she was at risk of death. Kamlish added: “So in our submission, when one looks at the learned judge’s direction as to the ease or difficulty of obtaining help, if Louella could walk by herself it was difficult.” He said Deakin addressed whether medical intervention could have helped at trial while other experts focused on the cause of death. Kamlish said the prosecution evidence did not prove causation against the defendant. Broughton’s lawyers said he remained “devastated” by Fletcher-Michie’s death. 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.” A representative for Fletcher-Michie’s family declined to comment.