Pregnant Bella Culley has been spotted checking in at the airport as she prepares to leave Georgia to return to the UK after she was freed from prison.
The 19-year-old Briton was released from a Georgian prison yesterday after a last-minute reprieve allowed her to leave the country.
She will be accompanied by her mother, Leyanne Kennedy, on the flight due to land tonight. It has been reported that a car is expected to pick her up from the airport and drive her home once she lands.
Despite concerns that she was past the normal 36-week limit to fly, her lawyer, Malkhaz Salakaia, confirmed she wouldn’t need any special permission to travel.
She was seen checking in at an easyJet kiosk wearing a brown sleeveless top and matching bottoms. She stood beside her mother as she spoke to an agent.
Culley had been kept in jail after authorities arrested her at Tbilisi international airport in May and accused her of smuggling 12 kg of marihuana and 2kg of hashish into Georgia.
Yesterday, it was expected that she would be sentenced to two years in prison, but prosecutors made a dramatic U-turn and asked for her release.
She is said to have erupted in tears and laughter when the judge decided to free her.
Her mother, Lyanne, 44, who was there to support her, broke down outside Tbilisi City Court yesterday and told reporters: ‘I am so happy – so happy. I know I don’t look like it, but I am so happy.
‘We will need to get her passport, and then we leave. Either today or tomorrow.’
In the last week, Culley’s parents had managed to raise a staggering £140,000 fine to help reduce their daughter’s sentence.
An emotional Culley, from Billingham, Teeside, was seen yesterday walking out of the courthouse as a free woman.
She called her father, Niel, 49, to give him the good news, telling him: ‘I’m not in jail anymore’. Overcome with excitement, he responded: ‘Wahey! That’s brilliant.’
Bella Culley, seen with her mum Lyanne after her release yesterday, is due to fly back into the UK tonight
Culley appeared overjoyed as she left the courthouse yesterday. She was initially expected to be hit with a two-year prison sentence
In court, the prosecutor Vakhtang Tsalugelashvili said: ‘It was our initiative – we took into consideration her age, her condition and her good behaviour, and that she fully cooperated.
‘We ask the judge to find Bella Culley guilty of 242a of the Georgian criminal code and be sentenced to five months and 25 days in prison with an additional fine of 500,000GEL.
‘The confiscated drugs will be destroyed, including her bag, while other personal belongings will be returned to her.’
Judge Giorgi Gelashvili, then asked the prosecutor if Culley should be set free, to which he replied: ‘Yes, we would like her to be released today.’
The judge agreed to release her, but cautioned that there would be no mitigating circumstance if she repeats the offence.
He said: ‘The sentence is five months and 24 days and an additional fine of 500,000 Georgian lari. The arrest will be rescinded as the time spent in preliminary detention will be taken into account.’
Culley, ecstatic at the news, hugged her mother after the decision was read out and said: ‘ I didn’t expect this at all. This is a huge surprise.’
When asked if she had any complaints about her time in prison, she responded that she had none.
However, when reporters asked her the same question outside court, she looked at her mum, who shook her head and said: ‘Bella, no’.
Her conditions at the prison are said to have been grim – she reportedly was forced to boil pasta in a kettle and roast bread over a candle.
Her cell at No 5 Women’s Penitentiary near the capital, Tbilisi, also had a hole in the ground, used as a toilet.
It was later reported that her release came after the British Embassy sent a letter to the president of Georgia, Mikheil Kavelashvili, asking him to pardon her.
Culley and her mother Lyanne share an emotional embrace after the stunning turn of events
Culley was arrested back in May after authorities accused her of smuggling drugs into the country
The judge warned the pregnant teen that there would be no mitigating circumstance if she repeats the offence
A source told Daily Mail: ‘The British Embassy has sent a letter suggesting that the President consider granting a pardon to this young woman, noting that she is in a late stage of pregnancy and has already signed a plea agreement.
‘They added that they stand ready to provide the case files, should they be required. The President has forwarded this letter to the Pardon Commission for review.’
Today, her attorney, Salakaia said: ‘I’m very happy it ended with her free. I wish them all the best.’
Culley is due to welcome her child before Christmas after she became pregnant while travelling in Southeast Asia.
After her arrest, she insisted that she was threatened by a British gang who told her they would kill her family if she did not peddle the drugs from Thailand to Georgia.
She claimed she was burned with a hot iron and shown a video of a beheading by a Thai gang.
Culley also claimed she flew to Tbilisi, thinking it was the name of a country and not knowing she had the illegal substances in her luggage.
This is a breaking news story with more to follow
