Arrest of judge’s son became part of plot to free killer

A corrupt police worker planned to use the arrest of a top judge’s son to help free her killer lover from jail, a court heard today (FRI).

Lydia Lauro, 33, is said to have landed a civilian job at Hammersmith Police Station to discover the name of a protected witness in a notorious murder trial.

Her boyfriend, fireman Leon De St Aubin, 38, and former public schoolboy Rupert Ross, 34, were both jailed for 30 years at the Old Bailey in 2011 for gunning down 20-year-old Darcy Austin-Bruce outside Wandsworth Prison 2009.

In September 2012, Lauro got in touch with fellow detention officer, Hayden Cheremeh, 35, to alert him to the high-profile guest in her custody.

The pair allegedly began an affair after she recruited the former PCSO to hack into the police intelligence system in a desperate search for information to help De St Aubin.

‘A judge, QC’s son is in a cell. Thinking of getting help for Leon,’ she wrote in a WhatsApp message sent in the early hours of 7 September.

‘She’s got a person, apparently arrested, held in a cell in Hammersmith Police Station, and writing to another detention officer about using that fact to somehow advance the case of Leon De St Aubin,’ explained prosecutor Mark Heywood QC

Cheremeh allegedly replied: ‘Be very careful how you go about it.’

Lauro continued: ‘I know his name. It’s a judge I came across in my research. I got his add’ just in case.’

The prosecutor said she was referring to his address, which she could have got from the custody records.

‘Imagine if his dad deals with Leon’s appeal,’ said Lauro.

Cheremeh warned ‘you could get done for perverting the course of justice’ to which Lauro replied: ‘Probably not worth doing then, I guess.’

But her colleague told her: ‘It is but just cover your tracks. Don’t use your name…. Do some more research on dad. Try and find out his results on appeals or whatever.

‘Just make sure you don’t get into trouble.’

The prosecutor said: ‘[Cheremeh] doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it, he just means you have to be careful. Don’t get found out.’

Lauro and Cheremeh are on trial at the Old Bailey with Ross’s mother, wealthy boutique owner Diana Lank, 60, who is said to have encouraged Lauro to hack into the system to find information that could help her son.

Former Dulwich college schoolboy Ross blasted Mr Austin-Bruce five times at close range from the back of a moped while dressed in a smart suit, using the helmet to hide his face.

Lank, of 11 Salisbury Pavement, Dawes Road, Fulham, and Lauro and Cheremeh, both of 20 Allard Gardens, Clapham, deny conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office between 1 November 2011 and 22 May 2013.

The trial continues.