A 19-year-old British mum-to-be faces 18 brutal months behind bars in a grim Georgian jail after her family failed to raise the full £215,000 demanded to secure her freedom.
Bella Culley’s Nightmare: Prison Over Plea Deal Collapse
Bella Culley, a nursing student from Billingham, Teesside, was sentenced at Tbilisi City Court to two years in Women’s Penitentiary No 5, a notorious ex-Soviet prison. The term was reduced by six months for time served, meaning the heavily pregnant teenager must serve 18 more months locked up — giving birth to her baby boy inside those grim walls.
The defence requested bail given Bella’s advanced pregnancy, but Judge Giorgi Gelashvili rejected it, stating there was “no legal grounds for changing her conditions.”
Drugs, Threats & a Desperate Escape
- Bella was caught at Tbilisi Airport with 14kg of cannabis and hashish worth an estimated £200,000.
- She insists a violent criminal gang forced her to carry the drugs, showing her beheading videos and threatening her family.
- At an earlier hearing, Bella pleaded guilty but said she was tortured and coerced, claiming she thought “Tbilisi” was a country, not a city.
Currently 35 weeks pregnant, Bella has been detained since May in a notorious Soviet-era prison, criticised for its harsh and degrading conditions.
UK Support & Uncertain Future
Bella’s plight has sparked outrage back home, with criticism aimed at the British Embassy for limited support. Her lawyer accused officials of only visiting once since her arrest.
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The Foreign Office said: “We are supporting a British woman who is detained in Georgia and are in contact with her family and the local authorities.”
Tameside Council are providing support to the family as they face a tortuous wait ahead. It remains unclear if Bella will serve her full sentence in Georgia or be granted house arrest, or even extradited to the UK.
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The final sentencing hearing is set for Monday, 3 November, in Tbilisi City Court — but Bella’s fight for freedom and a safe birth is far from over.
