British teenager Bella Culley has been freed after nearly six months in a Georgia prison on drug trafficking charges.
Visibly overwhelmed by the swarm of reporters asking questions upon her release, the heavily pregnant 19-year-old said she was “happy and relieved” to be free and looking forward to returning home to the UK.
Ms Culley was accused of smuggling 12kg of marijuana and 2kg of hashish in her hold luggage at Tbilisi International Airport in May.
She had initially faced up to 20 years in prison, but her family made a substantial payment to reduce her sentence and a plea bargain was agreed with prosecutors at Tbilisi City Court.
Instead, Ms Culley was sentenced to five months and 25 days in prison - the total time she had already spent in custody.
Below we look at how the British teenager’s ordeal unfolded.
Who is Bella Culley?
Bella May Culley is from Billingham in Teesside. She had hopes of becoming a nurse after finishing an access course at Middlesbrough College, before deciding to travel to southeast Asia in April this year.
Ms Culley flew to the Philippines after Easter, and travelled with a friend around the islands for around three weeks, her social media posts showed. At the time, she was in the early months of her pregnancy, which is now in its eighth month.
In early May, Ms Culley moved on to travel around Thailand. But in a matter of days, the holiday would take a dramatic turn.
How did she end up in prison?
Just days after arriving in Thailand, Ms Culley was reported missing. The teenager was meant to check in with her mother on Saturday at 5.30pm for a Facetime call, having remained in close contact with her family during her travels. But she never did.
At the time, Ms Kennedy said: “That was the last message anyone has received from what we can figure out up to now. I’m just waiting on her dad who is now in Bangkok to get back with any more information. I just want her home and safe or to hear her gorgeous little voice.”
Ms Culley has since said she became involved with a Thai drug gang, who coerced her with the threat of violence to both herself and her family to carry drugs into Georgia.
She resurfaced at Tbilisi International Airport in Georgia, where she was arrested for possessing 30lbs of cannabis. One of her charges is illegally importing the narcotic into Georgia.
Her grandfather, 80-year-old William Culley, told The Mirror that his granddaughter must have been taken advantage of.
“She's not daft, she's an intelligent girl. Why has she done it? Has someone dangled money in front of her? We just don't know what has gone on until we get out there and talk to her. We are just hoping that somebody can do something. She must be terrified.”
At a pre-trial hearing she pleaded not guilty, saying: “I did not want to do this. I was forced to do this through torture. I just wanted to travel. I am a good person. I am a student at university. I am a clean person. I don't do drugs."
What were conditions like in the prison?
During a nearly six-month detention in Georgia’s Rustavi Prison Number Five - which is around 25 kilometres south of Tbilisi - Ms Culley’s family claim conditions were at times difficult.
Ms Kennedy claimed her daughter had to boil pasta in a kettle and toast bread over candles during her incarceration.
Rustavi Prison Number Five, which is a women-only prison, replaced a Soviet-era building known as Tbilisi Prison Number 5 which was closed in 2009 following accusations of human rights offences.
In 2011, soon after the new prison was opened, the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) noted it was one of Georgia’s most modern penitentiaries.
But an inspection from spring 2023 found a range of issues in the prison, including a lack of exercise time, intermittent supply of drinking water, and regular verbal conflict between inmates, the BBC reported.
Inmates have also complained about a lack of access to proper hygiene.
Why has she been released?
It was reportedly just minutes before a final hearing on Monday morning that a new deal was struck allowing her immediate release from prison.
Her mother, Ms Kennedy, and lawyer, Malkhaz Salakaia, had spent months trying to raise funds to secure an early release in a plea deal with Georgian prosecutors.
Georgian prosecutors were initially considering a two-year sentence, but "decided to consider the time she has already served", Prosecutor Vakhtang Tsalughelashvili told The Associated Press (AP).
In October, Ms Culley’s case had been delayed to give lawyers more time to finalise the plea deal, after Judge Giorgi Gulashvili said prosecution and defence teams needed time to finalise the sum for her release.
Lawyers representing the teenager have been locked in negotiations with judicial authorities in Georgia, with further details on the deal expected to be released later.
Her family paid 500,000 lari (about £137,000) as part of a plea deal, which saw her sentenced only for as long as she had already spent in jail.
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