Ms Lauren pleaded guilty to causing a
breach of the peace on board the Barcelona-JFK flight and being
intoxicated. A third related air rage charge was withdrawn by the State
in court.
Lauren bit her lip and looked to the ground in the dock as Garda Inspector Tom Kennedy told the judge air crew were left frightened by the attack.
He said the flight had been in the air for two hours when an air hostess noticed the defendant crying in her seat, 21G, which would not recline properly.
He revealed Lauren told stewardess Constance Topping to ‘get the f*** out of my face’ as she tried to help, and when told to calm down she became more abusive.
Guilty: Lauren leaves Ennis District Court having been fined two thousand euros for the air rage incident
Ms Lauren (pictured) suffers from depression, has overcome anorexia and has bi-polar and general anxiety disorders, the trial heard
The court heard Ms Topping went to
brief her supervisor Jennifer Simpson at the top of the plane and Lauren, who was not a first-class passenger,
nevertheless followed her through first class and in to the galley ‘at speed’ where
she ranted, roared and shouted incoherently.
Insp Kennedy said: ‘Passengers were getting concerned and standing up out of their seats. She
told the air hostess she was going to go ballistic and pushed the air
hostess hard and she hit her back against the wall of the aircraft.’
He revealed
her frightening experience continued with Lauren calling Ms Topping a
‘f****** ugly, blonde b***h’ and Ms Simpson a ‘fat ugly, unhappy, blonde
b***h’.
When a pilot on a rest break in the cabin intervened he was told ‘you’re an a*****e’ by the defendant, Mr Kennedy added.
The flight had to be diverted almost 400 miles back to Shannon Airport, with the abuse continuing for more than an hour until touchdown when Lauren was arrested by gardai.
Lauren, dressed in a black jumper, burgundy velvet skirt and boots, did not speak during the hearing and looked back to her friends for reassurance as the details were outlined to the packed courtroom.
On touchdown officers noted she was incoherent and smelt of alcohol, despite airline crew stating she drank little or no alcohol on board.
When arrested under caution at the airport she replied: ‘Can you say that in English please?’ She later claimed she thought she had landed in Spain.
More than 200 passengers and crew were on board the flight when the air rage incident took place.
The diversion cost Delta 43,158 US dollars (31,770 euros/£26,269).
Ms Lauren’s solicitor, Sharon Curley, said that her actions on the aircraft were ‘bizarre’ and completely out of character.
She said Lauren has little memory of the incident despite only consuming three alcoholic drinks.
‘My client is extremely embarrassed and extremely upset by her actions,’ Ms Curley said, offering her apologies to the airline crew, passengers and gardai.
She said when the ‘stimulants’ wore off and Lauren ‘returned to herself’ she was unable to believe what happened.
Ms Curley revealed Lauren – a fine arts graduate with an unblemished record and no other convictions – has previously suffered from anorexia and written a book on her experience and won awards from eating disorder charities for her work.
The jewellery designer, left, has two older brothers. One of them is Greg Lauren, an artist, pictured here with his wife Dancing With The Stars contestant Elizabeth Berkley
Arrested: Jenny Lauren, pictured with her father Jerry in October 2011 at an evening hosted by Oprah Winfrey at the Lincoln Center in New York City
Troubled niece of one of the world’s most famous designers who lost her mother to cancer and battled eating disorder
Jenny Lauren
first began to make jewellery after a manager from Urban Zen, a boutique founded with the help of Ralph Lauren’s rival Donna Karan, admired her work. Unaware of her design pedigree, the Sag Harbor, N.Y., store offered her a trunk show.
She was raised in Manhattan and her father Jerry is the executive vice president for men’s design at the Ralph Lauren fashion house.
Her mother Susan died from lung cancer in October 2008.
She has two older brothers: Brad, who
is in the restaurant business, and Greg Lauren, an artist, who is
married to Dancing With The Stars contestant and former Saved By The Bell star Elizabeth Berkley.
She is said to be close to her first cousins, Ralph’s children, including David, the executive vice president for global advertising, marketing and communications at Ralph Lauren; Dylan, the owner of ‘the largest candy store in the world’, and Andrew, a film producer.
Jenny Lauren battled an eating disorder and
related health problems during her younger years which she documented in a 2004 book, ‘Homesick: A Memoir of Family, Food and
Finding Hope.
Her uncle, born Ralph Lifshitz in New York in 1939, is the man behind the
world-renowned Polo Ralph Lauren brand and the 162nd richest person in
the world.
He has an estimated wealth of $7.7billion after starting off selling ties in Manhattan in the 1960s.
Last year alone, his company reported revenues of $6.9billion.
A testimonial from Ms Lauren’s father, Jerry, was read out in the hearing.
He wrote: ‘I know that this will not be repeated. This is not the Jenny everyone knows and cares for.’
Ms Curley added: ‘She lost her Mum several years which she found extremely tough and she has indicated to me that she was upset over the Christmas period as it is a family time thinking about her Mum.
‘She found the combination of the drinks, the altitude, medication and separation from her travelling companion made her act completely out of character.’
Ms
Curley said that her client ‘is aware that the element of compensation
is something that she may have to face, possibly in another forum.’
Judge Durcan said that Ms Lauren’s actions in abusing the staff were reprehensible.
He described the ‘very personal insults’ directed at the two air hostesses and pilot ‘as nothing short of reprehensible’.
‘By virtue of the behaviour of this woman over 100 people had their schedules disrupted,’ he added.
‘All of that in my view is serious in the extreme.’
However, he said that Ms Lauren was of impeccable character and accepted what happened was completely out of character.
All the charges were brought under the Air Navigation and Transport Act 1973.
Lauren owns a jewellery line called Jenny Lauren Jewellery
A
close friend said on Monday that Lauren had her alleged drunken
meltdown on a transatlantic flight because she has a ‘long history’ of
anxiety on planes.
Melanie Beck said that Jenny could have turned to drink to calm her deep rooted ‘fear of flight’.
Ms
Beck claimed that the incident was just a one off and her friend had
‘matured’ from the days when anorexia controlled her life – with no
intention of going back.
Ms
Beck used to live with Jenny in Santa Fe, New Mexico when she was
recovering from the eating disorder and said the two have a ‘long
history’ together.
She said that Jenny had been in Barcelona recently and her posts on Facebook suggested she was having a great time.
Ms
Beck said: ‘It’s inexplicable. She’s not in a dark place, she has long
outgrown that. I think that she has a history of anxiety on airplanes.
‘I
think that’s true. She has had a long history of fear of flying. She
could have been drinking to ease that. I think that’s how most people
drink on planes (to ease anxiety).’
Lauren’s
old friend added the person Jenny describes in her memoir – it features
a frank account of her battle with anorexia – is the person she was
‘years ago’ and that she is a ‘grown woman now’.
Ms Beck admitted that her friend had a ‘lot of explosive energy’ when she was younger but she claimed that was ‘years ago’.
She
said that when Jenny used to live in her home in Santa Fe together,
which was more than a year ago, they travelled on long haul flights
together including to Brazil with no issues.
Ms
Beck said: ‘This doesn’t seem like the Jenny that I know. She is a
sophisticated woman. Totally sophisticated. ‘I’ve travelled many places
around the world and I have never seen her act out on an airplane or in a
restaurant or a public place like that. I’m shocked.’
In defense: Melanie Beck used to live with Jenny Lauren in Santa Fe, New Mexico, when she was recovering from the eating disorder and said the two have a ‘long history’ together
Dressed
in a smart black dress, coat and boots, the New York-based jewellery
designer wept before her court hearing and then clutched her hands as
she appeared before Killaloe District Court.
The
unusual sitting was held in the downstairs function room of the Brian
Boru pub – named after the ancient High King of Ireland – as there is no
dedicated courthouse in the area.
Ms
Lauren sat only feet away from Guinness and Heineken taps and under
switched off disco lights as her name was called out in the licenced
premises.
She left the initial hearing on Tuesday in a black 4×4 and covered her face as she ducked past photographers into the vehicle.
The
case is due to be heard again tomorrow at Ennis District Court where
sentencing will be decided on a guilty plea from Lauren.
The flight was able to continue its journey to New York just over two hours after touchdown.
Her company Jenny Lauren Jewellery operates in the US and sells items prices from $350 to $5,000.
Speaking from his Manhattan apartment, Jenny Lauren’s brother Brad said he was unaware of the incident – but was not surprised.
He
said: ‘That seems like Jenny. She can be explosive with her temper. I
don’t know what could cause her to snap. She just has an explosive
personality.’
Brad Lauren,
46, said that he did not believe his sister’s demons were coming back to
haunt her and that it was just her temper that was to blame.
He
said: ‘Things are going really well for her…The jewelry business is
terrific, everything is really good. I know that she was in Europe for
the holidays but I don’t know anything else.’
Brad Lauren added that his sister would be ‘very embarrassed by this’ and would be glad to get back to New York.
Clothes horse: Jenny’s uncle Ralph Lauren, flanked by wife Ricky, runs a billion-dollar empire built around his clothing label Polo Ralph Lauren
The Delta Airlines plane was diverted to Shannon Airport, Country Clare, on Monday afternoon
.