London riots: Millionaire’s daughter Laura Johnson found guilty of burglary

Laura Johnson, the daughter of a millionaire British executive, has been found guilty of burglary during the London riots last August.

Johnson, a university student aged 19 at the time, drove looters around the city from one electronics store to another, the BBC reported.

More from GlobalPost: Harry Potter actor jailed for joining London riots

She claimed they had forced her to do it, but a jury decided today that she was guilty of at least one count of burglary. 

She was cleared of another burglary charge and is still awaiting a verdict on charges of handling stolen goods.

According to the Daily Telegraph, police arrested her in her car outside a store in south London on Aug. 9. The vehicle contained more than £5,000 ($7,900) of electrical goods at the time.

She had set out from her family's residence in Orpington, south-east London, earlier that evening to meet an acquaintance, Emmanuel Okubote, 20, who has convictions for drugs dealing and theft, the Press Association reported.

Johnson told police that Okubote was accompanied by two other men she did not know, who got in the car and instructed her to drive from one place to another. 

"I didn't get the impression they were the sort of people you say no to," she reportedly told police. "I suppose there's a fear of them, there's a general knowledge that these are just not the kind of people who you don't go along with, especially when they are sat in your car and have an idea of your family or registration plate."

The jury did not accept her defense that she had acted under duress, however, after witnesses for the prosecution described seeing her load the car with boxes of goods and seemingly laughing with her passengers.

More than 1,000 people were charged in the wake of the riots last August, according to the BBC. London police said they were aiming for 3,000 convictions.

More from GlobalPost: Tough times for Australian billionaires