A MUM who won ￡150,000 on a scratchcard has been ordered to pay some of it back after she was jailed for running a cocaine ring.

       Elaine Hindley, 42, from Liverpool, reportedly ran the supply operation to fund her own cocaine habit.

       2

       Elaine Hindley's drug ring was discovered after cops stopped her car and smelt cannabis Credit: Facebook / Elaine Hindley 2

       Hindley was put behind bars for 12 months in July last year, but was released early Credit: Merseyside Police

       Hindley's drug operation was discovered after cops smelt cannabis when they stopped her Ford Focus while she was driving with her 13-year-old daughter in April 2020.

       She was put behind bars for 12 months in July last year, but before she was jailed she won a half share of a ￡300,000 scratchcard by a "quirk of fate".

       Hindley, who was released from prison early, appeared at Liverpool Crown Court again yesterday for a proceeds of crime hearing, where she was ordered pay back ￡49,550 from her winnings, Liverpool Echo reports.

       Christopher Hopkins, prosecuting, said she had benefited by ￡49,550 from her drug operation and has realisable assets in the same amount.

       The judge, Recorder Tim Harrington, ordered Hindley, of Shelmore Drive, Toxteth, to come up with the cash within a month or face eight months behind bars.

       Following her arrest nearly two years ago, a search of her car found numerous sealable pots and cops raided her home address.

       Most read in News

       MURDER TWIST Suspect held over murder of Brit family in French Alps in ten-year cold case

       ANDREW ACCUSED Prince Andrew 'knew his sex-abuse accuser had been trafficked', court hears

       D-DAY FOR BORIS PM told 'sort it out or step aside' as fury erupts over No10 garden party

       DOG WARNING Urgent warning for dog owners to avoid beach as more than 150 pets get sick

       Police found a large holdall containing just under two kilos worth of female flowering cannabis heads in the hallway of her house.

       The drug stash had a total street value of ￡28,000.

       Officers also found ￡5,381 in cash and a receipt for a Cartier watch.

       Hindley's lawyer Ken Heckle said she won money with the scratch card “by a quirk of fate”.

       She won ￡300,000, shared with another person, a few weeks before she was sentenced.

       He said she had not been dealing from the car when she was stopped and the sealable pots were empty.

       But it was accepted that her two young children “had been exposed to or come across the nature of what she was doing".