Bella Culley’s family pay £137,000 to reduce Georgia drugs sentence

The family of a British teenager who is on trial for drug smuggling in Georgia has paid £137,000 to reduce her sentence.

Bella Culley, 19, from Billingham, Teesside, had previously been told she could face up to 20 years in jail or life imprisonment if convicted.

Her mother Lyanne Kennedy confirmed the family had transferred the funds and it was now up to prosecutors to confirm they had received the money.

Miss Culley, who appeared in court looking “heavily pregnant”, will remain in pre-trial detention until the next hearing on Monday.

Under the plea bargain agreement, her family paid 500,000 Georgian Lari (£137,000) to significantly reduce her sentence.

More than 90% of drug-related crimes in Georgia are resolved through plea bargains.

Miss Culley, who is currently believed to be 35 weeks pregnant, initially went missing in Thailand before being arrested at Tbilisi International Airport on 10 May.

It is understood she arrived on a flight from Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates and police seized drugs from a travel bag.

Miss Culley was detained for months while the prosecution investigated where 12kg (26lbs) of marijuana and 2kg (4.4lbs) of hashish came from, and whether she was planning to hand them over to someone else.

At a hearing in July she pleaded not guilty to charges of possession and trafficking illegal drugs and claimed she had been “forced to do this through torture”.

“I just wanted to travel,” she said. “I am a good person. I am a student at university. I am a clean person. I don’t do drugs.”

Judge Giorgi Gelashvili Malkhaz Salakaia, representing Miss Culley, said he planned to appeal to the president of Georgia to pardon her after finalising the plea deal.