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.

Her parents, charity worker Lyanne Kennedy, 44, and oil rig technician Niel Culley, 49, managed to raise a hefty £140,000 but came up short of the full £215,000 fine imposed by Georgian prosecutors. The family had been given until 28 October to pay the total amount, but the deal collapsed, forcing the court to impose the full sentence.

“They did budge on the amount, but we still couldn’t raise that amount,” said Ms Kennedy, refusing to reveal full details of the negotiations.

Anxiety & Anguish as Baby Due Before Christmas

In court, a visibly shaken Bella nervously asked her lawyer, “Will I be able to take the baby with me if I go back to jail?” He reassured her: “Nobody is going to take the baby away from you.”

Her mother is now planning to move to Georgia to support her grandchild and keep the baby out of prison. “We want to know more about house arrest – I would have to come to Georgia to help,” Ms Kennedy explained.

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.

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.

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.