Liberal Democrats select Heroine of Hackney Pauline Pearce as council candidate She is absolutely not a drug dealer. She was the victim of a nasty newspaper sting involving a man coming into her house, demanding drugs and terrifying her. Pauline came to Hackney to start a new life and she has become a cornerstone of the community and a fearless defender of the people of Hackney. Miss Pearce herself insisted she had not tried to hide her past from the Lib Dems, and said her experience could help her direct young people away from a life of crime. Born in Barbados she lived in Hitchin, Herts, before moving to Hackney. In 1999 she was given a jar of pickled peppers to bring back to England from Jamaica but it was found to contain cocaine and she served three years behind bars after being convicted of importation of drugs. Miss Pearce, a singer and local radio DJ, has two sons and two daughters, along with four grandchildren, and was recovering from breast cancer and a slipped disc when she found herself at the centre of the disorder that swept across the country last summer. In the clip caught on mobile phone, Miss Pearce was seen standing in front of a graffiti-covered wall and waving her stick at marauding youths. "Why are you burning people's shops that they have worked hard to build up?" she asked. And for what, just to say you are warring and a badman? This is about a man who was shot in Tottenham, this ain't about busting up the place. We're not gathering together to fight for a cause, we're running down Foot Locker and thieving shoes, dirty thieves.