Daughter Of UK TV Star John Michie Found Dead At Music Festival: Murdered Or Drugs?

The daughter of U.K. TV star John Michie has been found dead at a U.K. music festival. Louella Michie was found dead in a wooded area adjoining the site at Bestival, a music festival that has long been seen as the final big weekend of the U.K.’s festival scene. Until this year, Bestival has been traditionally held on the Isle of Wight. Last year’s Bestival was downsized as a result of poor ticket sales, and this year the festival moved to a new site in Dorset.

Bestival organizers Rob and Josie De Bank have run a similarly-sized festival on the grounds of Lulworth Castle for a number of years. Camp Bestival is more family-orientated than its traditionally bigger brother, and at 30,000 capacity, it was around half the size of Bestival. Bestival attracts large numbers of young people for an end-of-season party. The focus is on dance music, a culture that has a reputation for drug use.

An announcement on the Dorset Police website revealed that Louella was found dead in the wooded area adjoining the festival site.

“Officers at the event were alerted just before 1 a.m. on Monday 11 September 2017 to reports of a concern for the welfare of a woman who had attended the festival at Lulworth Castle.

“Very sadly, following a search of the area the body of the woman was located in a wooded area on the edge of the festival site. She has been named by her family as 25-year-old Louella Eve Fletcher-Michie from London.”

Major U.K. news outlets, including the Guardian, were reporting that a man had been arrested by Dorset Police on suspicion of the murder of 25-year-old Louella. John Michie, Louella’s father and a soap opera star, later described his daughter’s death as a “tragic accident” and said that the family had “lost an angel.” Mr Michie was adamant that Louella had not been murdered.

That view is supported by the Dorset Police statement, which revealed that there were no obvious signs that Louella had been assaulted.

“A post mortem examination took place that was inconclusive and therefore we need to undertake a number of other examinations before we can establish why she died.

“The 28-year-old man arrested is in addition being interviewed on suspicion of supply of a controlled drug. He remains in custody today under caution in order to assist officers with the investigation. He was known to Louella.”

The police statement makes clear that they are now investigating Michie’s death as drug-related. As reported by Somerset Live, officers policing Bestival had used social media to alert festival goers to potentially dangerous drugs circulating at the festival. Officers warned that pills circulating at Bestival contained “unknown chemicals” and advised revelers to dispose of them.

It will now be some weeks before police receive the results of toxicology and other reports that may reveal the cause of Louella Michie’s death. While it would be wrong to assume that Louella’s death was drugs related, it would appear that is the line of inquiry the police are currently following.

[Featured Image by Matt Cardy/Getty Images]