A CWMBRAN widow jailed for money laundering by converting criminal property will have to pay back £213,000 which she gained from her crimes.

Sara Skinner, aged 46, of Oakleigh Court, Cwmbran, was jailed in 2014 for 30 months after a jury found her guilty of five counts of converting criminal property in November 2009, namely buying a BMW; converting criminal property in 2009 generally; in 2010; in 2011; and between January and June 2012.

She was cleared of three counts of converting criminal property alleged to have taken place in 2007, in 2008, and in 2011, namely a Porsche.

Recorder Mark Powell QC today at Cardiff Crown Court in a proceeds of crime act hearing ordered Skinner to pay £213,000 within three months or face two years in prison.

Skinner who has finished her prison sentence appeared in court yesterday. The court heard she will have to sell her house on Oakleigh Court to pay the £213,000.

Her barrister Simon Goodman told the court that currently someone is living in the house but downsizing would have to happen for Skinner.

The court heard there is a 'fairly small' amount left on the mortgage around £2,000.

Judge Powell ordered the restraint order on Skinner's assets to be lifted and the only item now under restraint is the property on Oakleigh Court.

Skinner had previously told the court during her trial that since her husband’s death in 2013 at the age of 54, she had found he had savings accounts that she didn’t know about.

But judge Powell during her sentencing said he did not accept she was not aware of the criminal activity that was going on in the house.

The trial heard how Skinner's husband was found with 24,000 cigarettes in his car, a Ford Focus, in 2008; how in February 2013 police officers carried out a dawn raid at the Skinner's family home in Cwmbran whereby a jury was shown a video of their home which was described as “lavish”, showing many “artefacts of high value.”