Nurse avoids spell in jail
21- year- old Lauren burst into tears
A fibbing nurse who quit a sex trial jury for a trip to Amsterdam burst into tears as she escaped a jail term.
Lauren Cochrane, 21, claimed she was too ill to continue sitting on the case as she lived it up with her boyfriend in the Dutch capital.
At an earlier hearing she’d looked Ayr Sheriff Desmond Leslie in the eye as she spun a web of lies.
On that occasion she had his sympathy and he did not find her in contempt of court.
It was a rather different atmosphere when she appeared before him again on Wednesday.
In a tense address which ran for more than five minutes, Sheriff Leslie kept Cochrane in suspense until the very end.
She’d packed an overnight bag for Corton Vale.
And she burst into tears as she left the dock with his words ringing in her ears.
Sheriff Leslie said both he and Cochrane would never know how her jury colleagues had deliberated in her absence.
He said: “You had the opportunity at the outset to explain your circumstances.
“You are a qualified nurse and by virtue of that profession your attendance could have been excused.”
He said she had a responsibility to the accused and the jurors and he had a right to be tried by 15 members of his community.
He went on: “You took an oath to try the accused and return a verdict on all of the evidence.
“You abdicated that responsibility. Had you been genuinely ill I would have had some sympathy.
“But you lied to me, your fellow jurors and the accused.
“You made the wrong decision and compounded it by continuing with the lie.”
Cochrane, of Douglas Road, Coylton, went to the extent of conning her doctor in the village into producing a medical certificate confirming “gastroenterities” in a bid to support her fabrication.
Sheriff Leslie decreed her actions were not contempt for the court, but a “nonchalance.”
He said her lies may affect her future and a criminal conviction would be flagged up to the Nursing and Midwifery Council.
Sentencing her to 220 hours community service, he said she clearly had skills to serve the community
Glenn Davis, defending, said she had made a “disastrous error.”
Mr Davis said: “Events were running away from her at the end.”
He said she was shamed and embarrassed and realised actions like hers had an impact on the wider justice system.
He added: “She had a pre- booked holiday and should have said she had an issue and sought some guidance. Unfortunately she didn’t do that.”
Asking the sheriff not to jail her, Mr Davis said: “This was poor decision making, nothing beyond that in my opinion.
“It is highly unlikely he will ever appear in a criminal court again.”
Cochrane admitted attempting to pervert the course of justice while on dury duty in February.
The professional body, the Nursing and Midwifery Council, said: “The police or employer would refer the conviction to us and usual practice is a hearing.”