THE former nurse who was sentenced to eight years and 500 lashesfor being an accessory to the murder of a colleague in Saudi Arabiahas pleaded guilty to credit card fraud.
Lucille McLauchlan from Dundee, who spent more than a year in aSaudi prison for her part in the murder of an Australian nurse andthe theft of her credit cards, admitted embarking on a GBP1,000shopping spree using stolen cards.
The mother-of-two's plight in the Middle East led to former primeminister Tony Blair lobbying for her release.
She was arrested in 1996 with a credit card belonging to YvonneGilford, and Saudi authorities claimed she and her allegedaccomplice, Deborah Parry, had stabbed, bludgeoned, and suffocatedtheir colleague.
However, following her return to Scotland in 1998, McLauchlan hasappeared in court for a series of offences and has been banned fromworking as a nurse.
Dressed in black, the 45-year-old appeared at Dundee SheriffCourt on Tuesday, where she confessed to three charges of creditcard fraud. The court heard how on 29 April last year she used twocredit cards - one Visa and one Mastercard - in someone else's nameto commit internet frauds from her home by ordering goods worthGBP1,000 from online retailers.
McLauchlan, charged under her married name, Ferrie, used thecards to buy two televisions from Argos totalling GBP462.98, amobile phone worth GBP217.93, also from Argos, and a netbookcomputer from Littlewoods priced at GBP324.95.
Depute fiscal Lisa Welsh said that the three charges "speak forthemselves" while McLauchlan's solicitor, John Boyle, said he hadnothing to add on his client's behalf.
A not guilty plea to a charge that McLauchlan, of Brook Street,Broughty Ferry, stole a purse from Dundee College was accepted bythe Crown.
The case was deferred until next month, with Sheriff Tom Hughestelling the court: "I defer sentence in regard to these matters inorder to obtain social inquiry reports, community service andrestriction of liberty order assessment."
During her time in captivity in Saudi Arabia's Damnan CentralPrison, McLachlan married her fianc, Grant Ferrie, 43, but thecouple split up six years ago.
On her return in 1998, she sold her story to a British tabloidnewspaper for a sum believed to be in the six-figure range andbought a large house in the quiet Angus village of Wellbank.
She continued to maintain her innocence in the Gilford murder.Speaking days after she arrived back in Scotland, she said: "I wouldlike to see justice done and dearly hope that the killer is found.
"I am confident that, ultimately, the truth about this terriblecrime will be known and that I will be cleared in the eyes of theworld."
Months later, however, she was found guilty of charges of reset,theft and fraud at Dundee Sheriff Court.
She was caught on video raiding the bank account of an elderlywoman patient in her care in the city's King's Cross hospital. Thecourt heard McLauchlan took GBP300 using a stolen cash card and PINnumber.
McLauchlan had fled to the Middle East as detectivesinvestigating the theft of the bank cash card and subsequentsiphoning of money began to close in on her. She had presented anursing agency with glowing testimonials which described her as "acapable and enthusiastic professional", whose nursing care was ofthe highest standard.
However, it later emerged that the two nurses who purportedlycomposed the letters had neither written nor signed the references.She was sentenced to 240 hours of community service and ordered topay GBP300 in compensation.
Following her conviction, she was struck off the nursing registerby her professional regula-tory body, the UK Central Council forNursing.
Background: Death, money, politics and a royal pardon
LUCILLE McLauchlan spent 17 months in a Saudi prison after beingconvicted over the murder of her Australian colleague, YvonneGilford.
She and her co-accused, English nurse Deborah Parry, had beenheld since Christmas Eve 1996, after Ms Gilford was found dead atthe King Fahd military hospital complex on 12 December. She had beenstabbed, beaten with a hammer, and suffocated.
McLauchlan was arrested at a shopping centre, where she hadwithdrawn money from an Arab National Bank ATM using Ms Gilford'scard, with Parry arrested soon afterwards.
Both women confessed to their part in the murder after theirarrests, but later recanted, saying their confessions were obtainedthrough physical and sexual abuse by interrogators.
However, in September 1997, they were sentenced. McLauchlan wasconvicted of being an accomplice in the killing and was given a jailterm of eight years and 500 lashes [which were never administered],while Parry was sentenced to death after being found guilty ofmurder.
Then prime minister Tony Blair raised the women's case when hevisited Saudi Arabia in April 1998. The following month, McLauchlanand Parry received a royal pardon and were allowed to return home.
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