Louise Crook with her mother Cathy Clews 76802-35REFORMED heroin addict Louise Crook has hit back at criticisms of the rehab scheme that has transformed her life.

Louise, 24, has nearly completed a six-month Drug Treatment and Testing Order (DTTO), which she says has weaned her off heroin.

But the orders, an alternative to prison, are controversial, with some MPs branding them a 'get out of jail free card'.

Earlier this month, a committee of MPs raised concerns about the number of orders which are not completed.

DTTOs require offenders to attend intensive treatment and testing courses.

But the public accounts committee found that in 2003, just 25 per cent of orders in Wiltshire were completed and 24 were broken.

Committee chairman Edward Leigh warned that DTTOs should not be used as a means of avoiding custody.

But Louise, who hasn't touched drugs since October, believes DTTOs are the best way of breaking the cycle of drugs and crime.

Had she gone to prison, the mother-of-two believes she would have returned to a life of drugs.

She was given the order in September after admitting claiming £4,000 in fraudulent benefits to pay for heroin.

Instead of being sent to prison, she was ordered to attend the Swindon and Wiltshire Drug and Alcohol Service for treatment.

She said: "It turned my life around. What they have given me is the confidence to say 'no' to drugs.

"If I had gone to jail, the first thing I would have done on my release would have been to get a fix."

As part of the order, Louise is regularly tested for drugs.

She attends the Milton Road rehab centre five days a week where she also gets computer training and life skills.

Louise, who is living in accommodation for the homeless, began using heroin and crack four years ago, spending up to £100 a day on her habit. Things got so bad she was eventually forced into prostitution

She condemned Mr Leigh, saying: "He was just talking about facts and figures, and not thinking about how the orders change lives.

" I would urge anyone given a DTTO to give it their best shot."

Her mother Cathy Clews, 50, of Lennox Drive, Walcot who is looking after Louise's children said the DTTO had given her back her daughter.

"I have got my old daughter back again," she said.

"I just couldn't talk to her when she was on drugs."

l Most DTTOs which cost £6,000 a year, compared to £30,000 for a jail term were abandoned because the drug users failed to turn up to be tested or because they were convicted of a further offence.

In total, 24 people dropped out in Wiltshire during the 12-month period.

Tamash Lal