Pregnant 'drug mule' Bella Culley told of sentencing after agreeing plea deal - Liverpool Echo

An alleged British "drug mule" Bella Culley has been informed she will receive a two-year prison sentence after accepting a plea bargain with Georgian prosecutors. The 19-year-old, who is 25 weeks pregnant, will be officially sentenced next week for allegedly trying to smuggle narcotics into the former Soviet republic earlier this year. A court in the capital Tbilisi heard that Culley's family, including her mum Lyanne Kennedy, 44, who works as a charity worker, and her dad Niel Culley, 49, an oil rig technician, have successfully paid 500,000 Georgian Lari (£138,000) to the court. Bella, who was dressed in a grey sleeveless cardigan and a pink T-shirt while displaying a new hairstyle, looked shocked as the terms of the agreement were read out during a brief hearing at Tbilisi City Court. However, the teenager, who has already spent five months behind bars on remand, was spotted smiling and later waved cheerfully at her mum, reports the Mirror. Her solicitor had previously indicated the sum of the fine paid would dictate the duration of her sentence - with the prospect of imprisonment being annulled, depending on how much money was handed over. Speaking after the hearing, Bella's mum Lyanne said the court demanded a higher figure than the family has paid in order for her daughter to be released today. She said: "It was a lot more". Asked about the negotiations, she added: "They did budge [on the amount], but we still couldn't raise that amount." It is understood the court originally demanded 800,000 Georgian Lari (£220,000) for Bella's release. Prosecutor Vakhtang Tsalugelashvili told the court: "The plea bargain has been reached. Our conditions have been met." Bella's lawyer Malkhaz Salakaia said: "I can confirm. All relevant parties have been informed as well. We would like to ask the judge to schedule one final hearing to pass the final verdict." Bella's lawyer also requested that his client be released on bail ahead of the sentencing hearing, which will be held at Tbilisi city court next Monday (November 3). Judge Giorgi Gelashvili denied the motion telling him there were no legal grounds on which to change her conditions. Mr Salakaia said: "She pleaded guilty, fully co-operated with the investigation and the plea bargain has just been reached. So we'd like to ask the judge to release her on bail, given her advanced pregnancy." Bella was also heard asking her lawyer: "Will I be able to take the baby with me if I go back to jail?". He told her: "Nobody is going to take the baby away from you." It is not known whether she will serve all of her sentence in jail in Tbilisi, or if she could be released to house arrest or extradited to the UK to serve her sentence. Bella, a student nurse from Billingham, Teesside, went missing in Pattaya, Thailand, in May before later turning up in Georgia, which was part of the USSR until 1991. She was arrested after 11kg of cannabis and more than 400g of hashish, a highly potent form of cannabis, were found in her luggage. Bella has claimed she was forced to traffic the drugs by gangsters who branded her with an iron, showed her a video of a man being decapitated and threatened to behead her family if she refused to co-operate. At a previous hearing in July, she said: "I didn't want to do this. I was forced by torture... All I wanted to do was to travel." Speaking outside court after the hearing, Mr Salakaia told the Mirror: "Bella is fine, her pregnancy is going smoothly. She will be able to communicate with the baby once she gives birth."