A 30-year-old mother of two has been jailed for six years after importing £25,000 worth of heroin into the island.

Natalie Jane Bayle, of Heather Crescent, Pulrose, admitted an offence of production of class A drugs to the island as well as two counts of driving while disqualified and two of driving with no insurance.

She was sentenced to five years, 10 months for the drug offence and two months for the driving offences.

She was also disqualified from driving for two years.

Deemster Alistair Montgomerie said while passing sentence: ’I have brought the sentence down as low as I possibly can, bearing in mind your immediate guilty pleas and the fact that you have two young children who aren’t going to see you for some time.’

Earlier, prosecutor Mark Benson told the court how, on June 26, the Post Office attempted to deliver a package to a Mona Street flat addressed to ’B E Bridson’ but there was no answer at the address. A note was left for the parcel to be collected.

Later that day Bayle left a phone message with the Post Office asking for it to be delivered the following day. Her voice was recognised by police.

However, information was received that the package contained drugs and when it was opened, 252.1 grams of diamorphine was found, said to be worth £25,210.

The package was redelivered to the Mona Street address in Douglas and signed by Bayle, using the false name ’S Jones’.

Police went to the flat and found Bayle with the package and arrested her. Also found were scales and drug paraphernalia.

The address was said to be uninhabited but Bayle had a key.

The drugs were said to have been mixed with paracetamol and caffeine, and have a purity level of 11.6%.

Bayle entered a basis of plea via her advocate Paul Glover, which was accepted by the prosecution, saying that she did not live at the address and that the scales and drug paraphernalia were not hers.

She also said that she did not sell or deal drugs, and that she agreed to accept the package on behalf of someone else, in return for a small amount of heroin for personal use.

She added that her only involvement was to sign for the parcel and give it to another person.

The driving offences occurred when Bayle was stopped by police travelling towards Old Laxey on June 11.

She was disqualified from driving in February 2016 for 12 months with an order to retake her test but had failed to do so. Despite this, Bayle was stopped for the same offence the following day.

Deemster Montgomerie told Bayle: ’Bear in mind what drug addiction has cost you in your life to date and what it will cost you in the future.’