A pregnant British teenager arrested for attempting to smuggle 14kg of cannabis worth £200,000 through Tbilisi airport has avoided a lengthy prison sentence after her family paid £138,000 in a plea bargain. Bella Culley, 19, a student nurse from Billingham, Teesside, was stopped in May with the drugs in her travel bag. She faced up to 20 years or life imprisonment if convicted.
At a court hearing on Tuesday, prosecutors and defence lawyers agreed a deal for a two-year sentence in exchange for the payment. Culley, who is due to give birth before Christmas, pleaded guilty and asked the judge if she could keep her baby with her in prison. The judge assured her that nobody would take the baby away.
Culley's mother, Lyanne Kennedy, told reporters the family had raised 500,000 lari (£137,870) after initially trying to raise £225,000. The funds are awaiting transfer to a government account. Culley's father, Niel Culley, an oil rig technician living in Vietnam, also contributed.
Culley had previously claimed she was tortured into taking the drugs to Georgia, a country she had never heard of. She said she was a good person and a university student who does not do drugs. Bail was refused on medical grounds, with a doctor deeming her conditions satisfactory.
The sentence is due to be handed down on 3 November. There is a possibility Culley may be allowed to have her baby under house arrest rather than in prison. She smiled and waved at her family during the hearing, and her mother described her as looking big and pregnant but strong.
