A RUNCORN mother of three faces a 20-month jail term if she fails to pay £80,000 she made from stashing heroin.

Nicola Reagan, 35, was found in possession of more than 400 grammes of heroin at her former home in Upton Rocks, Widnes, after a police raid last year.

Some of the drugs had been hidden in the children's Wendy House.

Reagan told Warrington Court she had been forced to store the drugs by gangsters to pay off debts owed by her husband, David Reagan, who was murdered in a gangland killing in 2004.

She claimed she was approached by two men to stash what she thought was cannabis, until they were ready to collect it.

Judge David Hale said that although there was no evidence against Reagan for drug dealing, she was involved in a wider criminal operation.