Pregnant ‘Drug Mule’ Bella May Culley, 19, To Spend Two Years In Georgian Prison

ByMF Jones

In case you missed it: 19-year-old British girl Bella May Culley sparked a massive international search operation last May after going missing in Thailand, only to pop up 4,000 miles away in Georgia where she was busted with 14kg of cannabis in her suitcase at Tbilisi International Airport.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, Bella told Tbilisi city court during her first hearing that she’s “pregnant”, which isn’t exactly ideal when you’re looking at 20 years – life imprisonment for international drugs smuggling.

Things did begin to look more promising when it was reported that Georgian courts offered that Bella’s family pay a fine worth “six figures”, in order to free her from prison and send her back to the UK.

Incredibly, the family did manage to stump up £140,000 earlier this month, but Judge Giorgi Gelashvili has decided to jail Bella regardless; sentencing her to two years in prison this week. I suppose the sentence would have been much harsher if they hadn’t forked out any cash at all.

The teen claimed she was forced to smuggle the drugs

Prosecutor Vakhtang Tsalugelashvili told Tbilisi City Court: ‘The plea bargain has been reached, our conditions have been met – two years of imprisonment and a fine of 500,000 Georgian Lari.’

Indeed, lawyers said that if the family had paid a larger fine, Bella would have been able to go free. How much larger, I wonder? Probably could have got there with a GoFundMe if they really tried.

Bella pleaded guilty at her trial, asking the judge if she could take her baby with her when she goes to prison.

Judge Gelashvili said: ‘Nobody is going to take the baby away from you.’

Which means, yes, Bella will keep her child with her in prison when the baby is born in December. Pretty mental origin story for the kid.

bella may - search to find her, has been arrested in Georgia on 'drug offences.' Bella May Culley, 18, from Billingham, County Durham, had been travelling around the country with a friend but had not been heard from since Saturday. Her phone was said to have been turned off and she was last thought to be in the Pattaya area, which is close to Bangkok. But now, Cleveland Police has said that authorities in Georgia have confirmed that 'an 18-year-old woman from Billingham has been arrested there on suspicion of drugs offences and that she remains in their custody.'

Bella’s lawyer, Malkhaz Salakai, told the court: ‘She pleaded guilty, fully cooperated with the investigation, and the plea bargain has just been reached. So we would like to ask the judge to release her on bail, given her advanced pregnancy.’

There is actually a chance the court could let her out on house arrest in the last month of her pregnancy, and for ten months afterwards.

Her lawyer previously told the court: ‘There was no malicious intent on Bella’s part – she was pressured and forced and there is irrefutable evidence of that.

‘The bag wasn’t even locked, and it went through three countries and two continents, while Bella to this day is unaware whether Tbilisi is a country or a city.

‘Bella didn’t commit this crime, and there are no grounds to doubt her testimony.’

Bella May Culley, 18, from Billingham, County Durham, seen in court in Tbilisi after she was detained at at the city???s airport ion suspicion of carrying 14kg of cannabis, which could lead to 20 years in jail or even a life sentence, according to Georgia???s Interior Ministry.

I mean, she literally did, but OK. Fortunately for Bella and her family, the money they’ve stumped up + the fact that she is pregnant have seemingly swinged things in her favour massively. She was looking at 30 years initially and it now looks like she may spend less than two years actually behind bars. Not bad going, all things considered. Do they know who the daddy is, btw?

For the two girls who were recently caught smuggling 35kg of cannabis from New York to Birmingham, click HERE. No plea deal necessary – they were let off with a slap on the wrist.

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