Bella Culley, a 19-year-old British national who had been imprisoned in Georgia on drug smuggling charges, has been released from prison after prosecutors agreed to a plea deal that included her parents paying a ₾500,000 ($185,000) fine. The prosecutors also said they took into account the fact that Culley is pregnant and expected to give birth in December.
Culley was arrested at Tbilisi International Airport in May 2025 after flying from Thailand with 11kg of cannabis and 2kg of hashish. She has repeatedly claimed that she was coerced to traffic the drugs by gangsters, who threatened her and her family if she did not comply.
Thai officials have disputed the notion that border guards or immigration officials had anything to do with forcing her to smuggle the drugs, as Culley had suggested, but acknowledged she may have been manipulated by criminal gangs.
The court’s decision to release the teenager was greeted with tears of joy by Culley and her family.
‘I am so happy, so happy. I know I don't look like it, but [I am] so happy. We’ll need to get her passport and then we leave, either today or tomorrow’, her mother Lyanne Kennedy told reporters.
Culley said she did not expect such a favourable decision.
‘It was our initiative — we took into consideration her age, her condition and her good behaviour, and that she fully cooperated’, Prosecutor Vakhtang Tsalugelashvili said. Sources told the Mirror that in particular, the court took into account her advanced pregnancy.
Culley was convicted of smuggling charges, which prosecutors initially said could result in up to 15 years in prison. Under the previously expected terms of the plea deal, Culley was facing almost five years in prison, in addition to the fine.
Her release caps off a story that has generated significant media attention, particularly in the UK, with new details and developments being regularly reported.
Culley was initially reported missing in May 2025 after traveling to Thailand, where she regularly posted pictures on social media of her partying and living a luxurious lifestyle. Her father flew to Thailand after her disappearance, only to then find out she had been arrested in Georgia.
Her family found a local lawyer, Malkhaz Salakaia, to take the case, though he did not speak English and had to communicate with Culley through a translator.
Culley was reportedly unaware of where she was, and Salakaia had to explain to her she was located in Georgia.
Later, Culley’s defence team acquired a new lawyer, Mariam Kublashvili, who had previously gained fame for representing UK national Jack Shepherd — known as the ‘speedboat killer’ — who was convicted of negligent homicide in a drunk boating incident in the UK and subsequently turned himself in to the authorities in Georgia.
Culley told the media and Kublashvili that she was experiencing hardships in prison, including receiving improper pregnancy-related care. She also told Kublashvili she did not like the food in prison.
Her mother later shared that she had been moved to a maternity unit, where she conditions were better, and she was ‘toasting bread over a candle flame’, as well as ‘making eggy bread and cheese toasties, and salt and pepper chicken’.
Nate Ostiller
