The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
Millionaire’s girl who drove looters in riots faces jail
Court: Undergraduate convicted of burglary
A millionaire’s daughter was told to prepare for prison yesterday after being convicted of driving looters on a late- night crime spree at the height of last summer’s riots.
University educated Laura Johnson, 20, chauffeured the group through London on August 8 last year in her Smart car.
As they cruised around the capital, her passengers leapt from the car clad in hoodedtops, bandanasand balaclavas to loot.
The Exeter University undergraduate, from Orpington, London, was convicted yesterday of one count of burglary and one of handling stolen goods.
She was cleared of two other burglary charges and a charge of handling stolen goods by the Inner London Crown Court jury.
Judge Patricia Lees bailed her and a 17-year-old accomplice, who cannot be named for legal reasons. She said: “You have both been convicted of serious offences. These are aggravated by the fact that they were conducted in the timeframe of serious civil unrest in London last summer. This spree of burglaries and handling stolen goods, which you both were willing participants in, will attract in my mind the likelihood of an immediate custodial sentence.”
The duo, who both wear electronic tags and are subject to curfews, will be sentenced on May 3.
Johnson and the 17-yearold were both convicted of burgling a Comet store at the Greenwich Retail Park and stealing electrical goods as rioters brought chaos to the capital.
Theywerecleared ofburgling a Currys shop at Stonelake Retail Park in which a television was stolen but convicted of an alternative charge of handling stolen goods.
The teenager had previously admitted burglary by stealing alcohol and cigarettes from a BP garage in Charlton. Johnson was cleared of this burglary and also acquitted of handling these items.
Johnson, who is reading English and Italian at university, is a former grammar school pupil who reportedly achieved four A*s and nine As at GCSE. She is the daughter of Robert and Lindsay Johnson who own direct marketing business Avongate Ltd.
Her counsellor, Brian Mckenzie, a chartered clinical and forensic psychologist who treated her last year – she previously tried to kill herself after struggling with mental health issues – told her trial she was “certainly vulnerable to exploitation from others”.