Ex-con Pauline Pearce, who was previously jailed for drugs related offences, has been selected as Liberal Democrat prospective Parliamentary candidate for Hitchin and Harpenden.

In 2000 Hitchin-born Pauline made what she calls "the biggest mistake" of her life and was given a prison sentence for drug-related expenses.

After leaving prison, the former Purwell Primary School and Hitchin Girls’ School pupil, retrained in catering and has run a number of restaurant businesses, often drawing on her West Indian roots.

Pauline then went to North Herts College to study dance and drama.

After leaving college, and while supporting herself and her family by working as a cleaner and a care worker, Pauline began a career as a jazz singer and took a one-woman show to the Edinburgh fringe.

Pauline has battled and survived breast cancer, going through multiple rounds of treatment.

During the 2011 London riots, Pauline was caught on film, still walking with a stick from cancer treatment, berating looters and facing up to rioting youths - hitting national headlines as the "Hackney Heroine".

Eventually in 2012, Pauline joined the Liberal Democrats and contested a by-election in Hackney. Despite being unsuccessful, she has continued to campaign with the Lib Dems, now serving on the Party’s Federal Executive and Federal Conference Committees. She is also involved in the Liberal Democrats’ Ethnic Minority campaign and engagement groups.

Pauline said: "I am so delighted to be returning to my home town of Hitchin, where my father, children, many family and friends still live, to contest the 2015 general election.

"I am standing for the Liberal Democrats because they are the political party that is most committed to making sure that local people are involved in the decisions that affect their lives: decisions about school places, new housing developments, leisure facilities and council spending.

"I am totally committed to fighting community campaigns and so the Lib Dems are the Party for me."