A MITCHELDEAN mother who peddled drugs after writing a book about her ordeal in a Venezuelan jail will have £7,417 confiscated under the Proceeds of Crime Act, a judge has ruled.

At Gloucester Crown Court Recorder Jonathan Barnes found that Natalie Welsh, 31, had benefited from crime to the tune of £32,253.

He made a ruling that, after the sale of her home in The Merrin, Mitcheldean, and other assets she will have £7,417.20 available for confiscation.

The Recorder gave her six months to pay and said there will be a four-month jail term in default of payment.

Welsh was jailed for six years nine months last May after she admitted two charges of possessing cocaine with intent to supply and one of possessing BZP with intent.

She also admitted five offences of simple possession of Ketamine, BZP and cocaine.

In 2001 the mum-of-two had been caught trying to smuggle five kilos of cocaine worth £325,000 out of Venezuela.

She was given a 10-year sentence in a hellish jail but escaped after four years with the help of one of the guards, who fell in love with her.

Once she was back in the UK she put her drug-fuelled life of crime behind her and got a job as a recruitment consultant.

But after four years in the job she wrote a book about her Venezuelan experience called Sentenced To Hell.

When it was published her employers were so appalled that they sacked her.

The court was told last May that being out of work led Welsh back to drug taking – and she then became a dealer peddling cocaine and BZP in pubs in Gloucestershire.

Prosecutor Rosie Walsh said she had agreed the criminal benefit figure with Welsh's defence and also the value of her assets – with the exception of her home.

The prosecution maintained the house – which is about to be sold by the mortgage company – was worth £106,000 but the defence had checked the Zoopla! website and submitted its value was only £96,000.

The Recorder decided it was worth £102,500.

Calculations were made to assess what would be left after the disposal of all assets and the sum agreed was £7,417.20.