And the chances are she will remain in the overcrowded, rat-infested Santa Monica Women's Prison for another 10 years, after she was caught trying to smuggle over half a million pounds worth of cocaine into Britain.

It is something Sarah, 39, can barely contemplate. She has already missed out on two years of her daughter Jasmine's life, including the birth of her first grandchild, Jaiden, one.

"I miss Jasmine so much," she says. "She was 15 when I left, now she's 17 with a baby of her own. Not being there to watch Jaiden grow up tears me apart."

Meanwhile, Sarah's friend Simon Burke, 37, is an innocent victim of her crime. He knew nothing of her plans when she invited him on holiday to Peru, but is also facing a jail term if a judge doesn't believe him.

Sarah's problems began two years ago when, tired of the long hours and poor pay, she gave up her position as a hotel sales manager. When she failed to find a new job, she started spending more and more time in the pub where she fell in with a bad crowd.

With no job, she couldn't borrow from the bank to get by, so she approached a loan shark, known only as Victor, who had been recommended to her by an ex-boyfriend.

He lent her £4,000, but was soon demanding repayment – and making veiled threats to Sarah and her daughter.

"I was scared. He said he'd seen Jasmine walking home from school. He was turning up at my house at all hours of the day and night, giving me deadlines I couldn't meet. I was a bag of nerves," she says.

Then Victor told her the whole debt could be wiped – but only if she smuggled drugs into Britain from Peru.

"It sounds stupid now, but at the time I had got myself in so deep, I just couldn't see a way out. I couldn't turn to my family. I had a strict middle-class upbringing and was always the black sheep," says Sarah.

"There was no way I could admit I was in trouble. I was just too ashamed. But I was desperate to get Victor off my back."

Not only did Victor persuade Sarah to carry the drugs, he also paid for her to take Simon along, so as not to attract suspicion.

However, not long before she was due to set off, Sarah was hit with grave doubts.

"I called Victor and pretended I'd lost my passport," she explains.

"But he turned up with another one that belonged to someone else. She looked about 19 and nothing like me. I just couldn't believe it would work."

It did, and a month later Sarah found herself in Peru's capital, Lima, with her friend Simon. She was told the drugs would be delivered to her hotel at 5pm on the ninth day of their 10-day holiday.

That afternoon, she left Simon in a local bar, saying she was treating herself to a pedicure.

"Not long after I got back to the hotel there was a knock at the door. A couple in their 40s stood there. The man came in. He only spoke Spanish, so I couldn't understand what he was saying. He took my suitcases and handed me two others," she says.

"When Simon got back I said I'd bought them as the zips on my two had broken.

"That night I didn't sleep a wink. I was so frightened of what would happen. The next morning I was shaking with nerves and took five Valium."

When Sarah and Simon arrived at Lima airport, police were everywhere.

"It freaked me out," remembers Sarah. "I persuaded Simon to go and check on some luggage he'd lost on the way over as I didn't want him near me when I checked in.

"Once he'd gone I did think about dumping the cases. But I couldn't. What would I do when I got back to England?"

Sarah couldn't hide her nerves as the cases went through the X-ray machine.

"I tried not to look at them. I didn't know what to do. I could feel myself shaking inside. Should I run? I could see the security men pointing at something, but then they said everything was fine," she says.

However, minutes later Sarah was pulled aside by a policeman. She was escorted into a tiny room where officers ripped open the lining of her cases, exposing bags containing nearly 10kg of cocaine.

"I didn't cry, I didn't scream. I just had a feeling of utter dread," says Sarah.

To her horror, Simon was also arrested and the pair were taken to a holding cell where they were kept for 15 days.

"I felt so terrible. I couldn't stop the tears as I apologised to Simon over and over again," she recalls. "He was in total shock. I never imagined they'd arrest him too. I'd told them he had nothing to do with it."

The pair were moved to another prison while they were processed through the system.

"From my cell I could look out the window and see the male prisoners being brought out naked into the yard. Some got beaten. I prayed the judge would say Simon could go home," says Sarah.

Instead, Simon was sent to the Sarita Colonia men's prison in Callao, while Sarah was taken to Santa Monica Women's Prison near Lima. It was 10 months before she was asked to sign a declaration saying she took full responsibility for the drugs and that Simon was innocent. He was finally freed on bail, but his passport has been seized and he will face a trial when Sarah is sentenced later this year.

He's staying in a bedsit in Lima, but despite what she put him through, Sarah is confident Simon won't blame her.

"I know what I did to him was wrong, but he knows I didn't mean it. I messed up and made the worst decision of my life. Now I am living the nightmare," she says. Simon says: "When Sarah told me what she'd done, I wanted to hit her. I was kept in prison for 10 months with murderers and paedophiles, even though I hadn't done a thing wrong. Sarah not only destroyed my life, she destroyed my faith in humanity."

Sarah's story will be on Banged Up Abroad, Wednesday, 8pm, Five.

What lengths have you gone to to get out of debt? Would you ever be tempted to do something this drastic to pay off a loan? Do you think Sarah Jackson realised how serious the crime was she was committing?

CLICK HERE TO JOIN THE FAB FORUM DISCUSSION

PHOTOGRAPHY: ASSOCIATED PRESS, FIVE