- Laura Johnson, 20, drove looters across south London on looting spree
- She could be out in just over seven months with credit for time on tag
- Gives nervous smile to her mother as she is led away to begin her sentence
By David Wilkes
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A millionaire’s daughter was yesterday jailed for two years for her role in ‘one of the most serious’ rampages of last summer’s riots.
Laura Johnson was said to have become infatuated with a drug-dealing gangster and acted as a chauffeur for him and his friends as they pillaged electrical goods in a seven-hour crime spree.
Yesterday, the 20-year-old Exeter University student and former grammar school prefect smiled nervously as sentence was passed while her parents, who live in a £1million house in Orpington, Kent, watched from the public gallery.
Laura Johnson, left, was found guilty of burglary and handling stolen goods last month. The maximum sentence for handling is 14 years
Sentencing her and teenage accomplice Christopher Edwards at Inner London Crown Court, Judge Patricia Lees said: ‘Your actions added to the overall lawlessness that threatened to overwhelm the forces of law and order.’
Johnson, dressed demurely in a black cardigan and blue blouse, was joined in the dock by Edwards, 17, who can now be identified after the judge lifted an order banning his identification. He was sentenced to 12 months.
Jailed: Laura Johnson, right, arriving at Inner London Crown Court yesterday. She was sentenced to two years while her accomplice Christopher Edwards, left, got 12 months
The judge said: ‘You both come from supportive homes.
'Of neither of you could it be said that your parents have not provided every advantage they could for you.
‘It seems to me that like so many others, you both revealed a weaker side to your characters in taking advantage of an escalating situation because you thought you could get away with it and would not be caught.
‘You most probably also got caught up with what you, through immaturity and ill-judgement, thought was an exciting experience.
‘It is clear that these offences were committed as part of one of the most serious criminal enterprises which occurred during the civil disturbances which spread across the capital and beyond last August.’
Last steps in freedom: Laura Johnson (right) and her mother walk up the steps to the court. She smiled nervously as she was led to the cells to begin her sentence
Then there were two: Johnson's parents, Robert and Lindsay, leave court without their daughter after she was sent to jail this afternoon
Johnson will spend just over seven months in prison. This is because she will serve half her sentence before being released on licence, minus 144 days for time spent on a curfew.
She was found guilty of burglary and handling stolen goods last month. The maximum sentence for handling is 14 years.
Throughout the trial Johnson, who has mental health problems and has made several suicide attempts, claimed that talk of guns and knives had terrified her into driving convicted robber and ‘bad boy’ Emm anuel Okubote, 20, and his friends.
Transformation: The image of a smiling schoolgirl, left, is in stark contrast to the grim-faced Laura Johnson, leaving Inner London Crown Court in London last month while the jury deliberated on its verdict
Future: A once beaming Laura Johnson, left, seen leaving Inner London Crown Court with her mother Lindsay following her conviction, right, following her conviction last month
She also blamed her descent into lawlessness on being raped by two men in the weeks before the riots â€" an allegation which went unreported to the police â€" and on having a mental breakdown after being dumped by her previous boyfriend.
Yesterday the judge told her: ‘You were pivotal to this planned criminal enterprise, you provided and drove the car which carried the others both to and from premises which they burgled and outside of which they robbed others of goods stolen only moments before.
Well to do: The leafy Johnson home in Orpington, in the south-east of London
Grand: Prosecutor Sandy Canavan told the court Laura Johnson had gone to a grammar school, had a nice background, was an Exeter University student and lives in this house in Orpington, Kent
CCTV shown to the jury of Laura Johnson at a petrol station on the night of August 8th 2011
Played in court: Laura Johnson inside the petrol station on the same night
Smiling: Jurors were shown a picture of Laura Johnson as she drove her car on the night of the looting
Laura Johnson's mother and father, Lindsay and Robert, have attended the trial each day
The court heard Laura Johnson wanted to protect boyfriend Emmanuel Okubote, 20
‘You drove to pick up the rest of the group and willingly remained with them throughout.
'On your evidence so much was stolen throughout that night it necessitated trips to safe addresses where goods could be off-loaded.’
The judge also observed that Johnson’s reaction to the arrival of the police was to put her foot on the accelerator of her car â€" despite an officer standing in front of it.
The judge said she had no doubt that Johnson was ‘excited’ by what she ‘perceived to be the thrill of Okubote’s world’, adding that she had read a letter from her mother which was ‘heart felt and saddening and reflects the tragedy that this case is for both of the defendants and their families’.
Johnson’s parents, Robert and Lindsay, who own direct marketing business Avongate Ltd, left court without comment last night.
Exeter University said it was considering the case ‘to determine the best way forward with regards to Laura’s studies’.
Johnson, who studies English and Italian, was convicted last month along with Edwards of one count of burglary at Comet and one count of handling stolen goods at Currys, but found not guilty of a third count of burglary at a BP petrol station.
Carnage: Laura Johnson chauffeured Emmanuel Okubote and his friends for seven hours as they embarked on a looting rampage in the London riots
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Clang. Not the prison gate but the shutting doors of all the professions she will not be able to join, and countries she will not be able to visit now she has a record. This sentence is going to be with her for a very long time. And serves her right.
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I find it odd that she is being let off 144 days of a prison sentence because she spent 144 days on a curfew on a tag. It's reasonable to deduct the number of days from a prison sentence for the amount of time spent in prison on remand. But this? I find it very strange. Does the judge feel that 144 days on a curfew living at home is the same kind of punishment as spending 144 days in prison? Another fine example of soft justice?
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Good
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Serves her right, silly girl... bet she thought daddy's money could buy her out! pay the price for stupidity!!!
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So the two guys who posted on Facebook, but didn't actually riot were given four years, and somebody who fully takes part only gets two!. Also, why is the time in prison reduced by the time spent under curfew? Surely a curfew in a large comfortable house cannot be compared to prison!
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hussarrrr!!! being rich doesn't make her better than the rest of us!
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She wants to play gangsters moll, well now she can.
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She is not a girl, she is a twenty year old woman and if she had any intelligence at all she would not have done what she did. She will spend very little time in prison as the time she has been under curfew and tagged is being taken into account against her two year sentence so she will serve six months maximum. Some deterrent!
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The photos say it all, her Mother eyes are averted and always looks ashamed, while she is lapping up the attention with a smirk on her face, Exeter University should make an example and expel her and make it clear to all present and future students that behaviour on or off the campus must be exemplary or disciplinary measures will be taken. If she wants to be "in the hood" let her, but that does not come with a university degree. Stupid girl and there I was thinking university was for smart people.
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Ridiculous sentance- what's the point of sending stupid but not dangerous people to jail? Give them a large fine instead, what a waste of taxpayers money.
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