Pregnant teenager Bella Culley arrives back in UK after Georgia ‘drugs mule’ jail ordeal

On The Ground newsletter: Get a weekly dispatch from our international correspondents Get a weekly dispatch from our international correspondents Get a weekly international news dispatch Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice British teenager Bella Culley has arrived back in the UK after being freed from jail in Georgia, where she was held on drug smuggling charges for nearly half a year. The 19-year-old, from Billingham in Teesside,was filmed walking through Luton airport by the BBC arm-in-arm with her mother after her flight touched down at around 7pm on Tuesday. Her lawyer said on Monday that prosecutors had made changes to her plea deal and decided to free her on account of her age and pregnancy. Her family had recently paid £137,000 to reduce her sentence to two years, with Ms Culley initially facing up to 20 years in jail in Georgia. Ms Culley was arrested in May after she was accused of smuggling 12kg of marijuana and 2kg of hashish into the country in her hold luggage. open image in gallery Bella May Culley speaks to journalists after she was released from prison on Monday ( Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved ) She initially pleaded not guilty to possession and trafficking illegal drugs at a hearing in July, and said she had been tortured into transporting them by a gang. Ms Culley told the Tbilisi court: “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.” Her lawyer told the court at a pre-trial hearing that she had been threatened with a hot iron to travel with the suitcase filled with drugs. The teenager stood in front of the judge in the courtroom and showed her scarred right wrist. She was found guilty on Monday and sentenced to five months and 25 days in prison, the amount of time she had already spent in custody. open image in gallery Bella Culley was arrested in May ( East2West ) Case prosecutor Vakhtang Tsalughelashvili told the Associated Press that Georgian prosecutors had considered a two-year sentence, but ultimately “decided to consider” time already served. "We are very grateful that they took Bella's situation and financial condition into consideration," Culley's lawyer, Malkhaz Salakaia, told reporters. Ms Culley and her mother cried as the verdict was read out. The teenager had been told shortly before the session. She was transferred to a mother and baby unit over the weekend before she was freed. open image in gallery Drugs seized from Bella Culley’s luggage ( Georgian Police ) During her time in prison, she had said she had been forced to boil pasta in a kettle to eat and dig a hole in the ground to use the toilet. Ms Culley is 35 weeks pregnant and is understood to have become pregnant while travelling Southeast Asia. She had been reported missing in Thailand and was arrested shortly after in Georgia.