Tyrone woman Michaela McCollum and Scottish woman Melissa Reid are to appear in court again next Tuesday for sentencing.

The women could be handed a lower jail term after last night pleading guilty to charges of drug trafficking.

Their U-turn means they will not have to stand trial on drug trafficking charges.

Instead, it is likely they will be sentenced to six years and eight months in jail at a hearing which could take place as early as next week.

Journalist Martina Hanlon told Newstalk Breakfast the judge will look favourably upon the fact that they have pleaded guilty

The two women admitted their guilt at a private hearing in a makeshift courtroom at a men's jail in Lima.

They were heard separately for half an hour each from 11am local time (5pm in Ireland) and asked their names and ages before being given the opportunity to speak.

The women's lawyer, Meyer Fishman, declined to comment, but a Callao court spokesman in charge of the investigation confirmed the guilty pleas.

"Both women have pleaded guilty to drugs trafficking," they said.

"It means they automatically benefit from a sixth off the minimum jail sentence of eight years and will be sentenced to six years and eight months in prison.

"Sentencing has not taken place yet and a new hearing where the women will be sentenced has now got to be arranged.

"But it's likely that will take place in around a week's time."

Reid and McCollum, who had both been working in Ibiza, were facing up to 15 years in prison if they had been found guilty in a trial.

Reid's parents insisted last week they still believed their daughter had been forced to carry the drugs, but a guilty plea was the best course of action to get her back to the UK.

Prosecutors previously indicated that the women could return home to serve their sentences if they pleaded guilty.

A total of 248 "drug mules" were arrested at Lima's Jorge Chavez international airport in 2012, with nearly 1,600kg of illegal drugs confiscated.

The UN says Peru has overtaken Colombia as the world's largest grower of coca, the raw material of cocaine.