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A former porn star says she is ready to leave her “sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle” behind her after being given one last chance to stay out of prison.
Roma Lawson spoke to KentOnline after appearing in court this week for attacking two paramedics while high on illegal substances.
The offences put her in breach of a suspended jail sentence for a second time, with a judge previously warning her she would be locked up if she reoffended again.
But the 35-year-old has now been given another reprieve and told she has three months to clean up her act and prove she can stay out of trouble.
Outlining the most recent offences, prosecutor Ethan Dighton told Canterbury Crown Court how ambulance crews had been called to Tyndale Park in Herne Bay on April 6 after a member of the public spotted Lawson in distress.
“She got into the ambulance of her own volition,” said Mr Dighton.
“Once in there she became agitated and began scrambling around and grabbing at equipment.
“The emergency workers then thought they needed to restrain her; at that point, the defendant attempted to bite the ambulance workers.
“It’s clear that the defendant was in a degree of distress.”
The court heard Lawson was under the influence of drugs at the time of the incident, which left one paramedic with bruising to her hands and the other with a strained ankle and shoulders.
An iPad used by the ambulance crew was also damaged during the outburst.
When Lawson was later brought before Margate magistrates on two counts of assaulting an emergency worker and one of criminal damage, she pleaded guilty to all charges.
At her previous appearance at Canterbury Crown Court last August, for an offence of shoplifting, Recorder Edmund Fowler gave Lawson a suspended sentence but told her she would be put behind bars should she reoffend within two years.
This came just months after Lawson, of Preston Parade, Seasalter, had been spared jail for running from police half-naked and biting one officer after she was arrested for suspected drug-driving.
But probation officers told the court on Thursday that since the most recent attack in April, Lawson has made headway in her battle against opioid addiction.
Mitigating, Phil Rowley said the defendant had shown good efforts in her rehabilitation programme, working towards the goal of being reunited with her 10-month-old daughter.
“At the start of the [suspended sentence] order, for a relatively significant period of time there was engagement,” said the lawyer.
“She candidly accepts that she had briefly returned to drug use, but there has since been a change in her conduct and mindset.
“Any offence involving an emergency worker and an attack on them is of great concern.
“Clearly she is swimming in perilous waters here - there is new offending and she is in breach [of the suspended sentence order].
“But notwithstanding the fact that she briefly fell off the wagon, the probation service sees a glimmer of light here.”
Lawson attended court in a mauve dress and quietly wept throughout proceedings.
Addressing her directly, Recorder Fowler said he would defer the sentencing of her most recent crimes for three months and adjourn a decision on the breach of the suspended sentence, on three conditions.
These were that she engage with probation, seek assistance for her drug addiction and commit no crime.
“I had in mind sending you straight to prison today - I’ll make no bones about it,” said the recorder.
“I’ve already taken a chance on you and you've let me down, but once again - perhaps due to your silver-tongued counsel - I am persuaded to give you another chance, but this really is it.
“This is an exceptional course of action I’m taking here and I’ll probably walk out that door and think ‘why did I do that?’. Don’t let yourself down.”
Speaking after the hearing, Lawson told KentOnline she was thankful for the court’s leniency.
“I am so grateful that I’ve been given this fantastic opportunity,” said Lawson.
“I just want to make amends to everyone I’ve hurt through my relapse and get back to being a mother, an auntie, and a friend.
“Where I used to do porn and that, it’s a sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle, but that’s not me anymore. I even went to church last week.”