A WOMAN who smuggled Class A drugs in her underwear during a prison visit was caught after giving her jailed boyfriend a hug.

Tara Apostoloff-Boyarin, of Lytton Street, Padiham, had hidden heroin and cocaine in her bra and placed a red balloon filled with heroin in her knickers when she visited her boyfriend at Haverigg Prison in Cumbria.

Appearing at Carlisle Crown Court, Apostoloff-Boyarin, 34, pleaded guilty to possessing the drugs for her own use but denied the more serious charge of possessing them with intent to supply.

However, a jury found her guilty of trying to pass the drugs to her boyfriend.

The court heard that Apostoloff-Boyarin went to visit her boyfriend, from Bacup, two days before Christmas last year.

Two prison officers told the court she was behaving so strangely when she arrived in the prison's visiting room that they told her they were suspicious of her.

Despite the warning she carried on with her mission, the court was told.

Apostoloff-Boyarin then moved around the table separating her from her boyfriend and gave him a hug.

But the officers noticed that when she put one arm around his neck she put the other under her jumper, as if to retrieve the package of drugs.

She was taken to an adjoining room and the drugs were found during a strip search.

She insisted the heroin and cocaine were for her own use. The substances in her bra were for day time use and those in her knickers for the night.

The judge, Recorder Alistair Webster QC, told Apostoloff-Boyarin a significant prison sentence was inevitable.

She was remanded on bail to live at her home in Lytton Street and will be sentenced on June 21.

In the meantime she will have to abide by a 9pm to 6am curfew and undergo weekly testing at the Westgate rehabilitation clinic to make sure she is not taking any illegal drugs.