THE memoirs of convicted drugs mule Michaella McCollum are to be published next month, where she describes how "one bad choice turned my life upside down".
The Co Tyrone woman's tell-all story, You’ll Never See Daylight Again, based on her time in a Peruvian jail includes the claim she had "fled to Ibiza aged 19 to escape a past blighted by sectarian and domestic violence".
McCollum (25) from Dungannon, and Melissa Reid from Scotland were caught trying to smuggle 11kg of cocaine worth £1.5 million out of Lima in 2013.
They initially claimed they had been kidnapped and forced to carry the drugs cache hidden in food packets inside their luggage.
But they later admitted trying to smuggle cocaine and pleaded guilty.
Faced with the prospect of up to 15 years behind bars, the pair struck a plea bargain to secure a lighter sentence and were released in 2016.
McCollum, now a mother-of-two, said: "I want you all to know what truly happened to me - the trauma and near-death conditions I lived in for nearly three years.
"Some people think I got off lightly, but I hope my story will show how one bad choice turned my life upside down and if it stops just one person making the same choice, I will be happy I have shared it."
The synopsis of the book, due for release on October 31, says it "tells Michaella's amazing true story in her own words".
"...of how she fled to Ibiza aged 19 to escape a past blighted by sectarian and domestic violence - only to find that the bars and clubs of the party island held its own dangers," it states.
"When approached by a man promising quick, easy money, Michaella made a decision that would change her life forever.
"You’ll Never See Daylight Again is a brilliantly affecting and redemptive tale of a naive young girl who comes of age in the dark heart of a Peruvian jail."
Ciara Lloyd of Bonnier Books said: "Most people will have heard of Michaella McCollum and think they know her, but no-one really knows the true story of how she became imprisoned in one of the deadliest prisons in Peru.
"Drug dealers, psychotic inmates and filthy living conditions, it’s hard to imagine how any 19-year-old girl would cope.
"But not only did Michaella survive, she came out stronger and is finally ready to tell her story."
