Brit teen Bella Culley was ‘visibly shaken' to learn she faced life in jail… as new details of drugs arrest emerge
THE British teenager arrested on suspicion of smuggling drugs was reportedly visibly shaken when she learned she faced life in jail.
Bella Culley's lawyer has described the teen's emotional state for the first time after meeting with her dad and aunt.
10
10
10
10
Bella, 18, faces life in jail after she was arrested at Tbilisi airport for allegedly entering the country with 34 bags of marijuana hidden in her luggage.
The teen's lawyer, la Todua, told The Sun that Bella was shocked at the news and said that she "didn't know what she was doing".
Ms Todua said: 'When I explained to her the consequences - that she could be sentenced to 15-20 years in prison or life - she was visibly shaken.
'My impression was that she ended up in Georgia without even knowing what she was doing.
'I got the impression she wasn't expecting those consequences."
The lawyer revealed that Bella had yet to explain to her own legal team how or why she came to be in Georgia with the huge stash of drugs.
Ms Todua said: 'She has not explained anything to me about the drugs - there will be a more detailed discussion about this later.
'This means that I have been unable to explain anything to her father.'
The teen from Teeside stunned her family further when she announced that she was pregnant at her first court appearance on Wednesday.
Ms Todua said: 'She was emotional - she announced in court that she was pregnant and one of the first things that will be done now is a medical check-up.
"The pregnancy will be investigated."
Bella has now submitted a formal request for her dad Niel and aunt Kerrie to be allowed to visit her in prison - which could take up to five working days to be processed.
Ms Todua said: 'The visit could happen as soon as tomorrow but could be as late as next Wednesday, protocols have to be followed.
'Bella has written a letter to the authorities asking them to allow her father to visit, but they have not yet responded.
'They might respond tomorrow so he can go in, but they have up to five days to respond.
"Bella has the right to demand a short term visit from her family of up to one hour.
'They would meet in a room, there would be no glass separating them.'
Bella's dad and aunt were seen leaving the lawyer's looking upset and were being supported by UK embassy staff.
But the lawyer assured that the pair had remained 'calm' throughout the ordeal.
The lawyer also revealed that Bella had been assigned a young English-speaking foreign cellmate while on remand but declined to say what offence they had allegedly committed.
Bella reportedly entered the Georgian capital on a flight from Thailand via Sharjah in the UAE, according to Ms Todua.
The teen reportedly hid the weighty cannabis and hashish stash in separate packets crammed into her hold bag.
10
Bella now faces between ten years and life for suspected drug smuggling.
But her distraught family are convinced she was led astray.
Bella previously told loved ones she was meeting a man in the Philippines, sparking a police hunt for the mystery man.
Bella's social media showed her clearly in the company of a male stranger on her travels - but he was never clearly pictured or named.
Her granddad William Culley, 80, confirmed yesterday that while she appears to have spent most of March in Thailand she also spent time in the Philippines with a man called 'Ross or Russ'.
Mr Culley said: "She went to the Philippines to see somebody, a lad there, who she used to go out with a couple of years ago, who was working out there.
"She said, 'I'm going on my own, but I'm meeting Ross out there. Or Russ, I'm not sure what his name is.
"He was working out there for his father's company or something - but now I wonder if what she told me was true."
Video clips and snaps shared on social media show the teen holding onto a man as she rides pillion on a scooter and another shows her smoking a cannabis spliff.
Another on TikTok shows her joking about 'Bonnie and Clyde' crimes and is captioned: 'Don't care if we on the run baby as long as I'm next to u.'
But Bella's male companion's face never appears in the posts and he is never tagged.
Family members said yesterday that she went on to meet a group of young men from the north west of England in Thailand before she was reported missing on Saturday.
Her family raised the alarm, sparking a frantic search which ended in Bella's shocking arrest in Tbilisi.
Bella's dad - who lives in Vietnam - even travelled to Thailand to help look for her.
Her dad has now travelled to Tbilisi to try to see Bella, as he told how he is suffering "every parent's worst nightmare".
Bella appeared in court in the Georgian capital after being detained by cops who are believed to have acted on a tip-off.
Local sources said a border check revealed '34 hermetically sealed packages containing marijuana were found in the passenger's bag, as well as 20 packages of hashish'.
The teen faces charges of illegally purchasing and storing narcotics, illegally purchasing and storing the narcotic drug marijuana, and illegally importing it into Georgia and is due back in court on July 1.
Unexplained records have also emerged revealing Bella's apparent business links to the Far East - with her listed as the director of at least two companies with Chinese ties.
Bella's cousin took to Facebook yesterday to make a statement.
She wrote: "No parents ever want to find themselves in this situation, and they are going through the worst time of their lives right now and are at the start of an extremely difficult journey.
"Speculation and rumours are making it harder to navigate through this nightmare."
10
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
3 hours ago
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Maniac accused of decapitating his own parents shocks court as he debuts dramatic transformation
A man accused of decapitating his parents looked unrecognizable in court on Friday as he was pictured with a walker, a fuller frame and a full dark beard. Joseph Brandon Gerdvil, 41, is accused of brutally murdering his parents, Antoinette Gerdvil, 79, and Ronald Gerdvil, 77; deaths which horrified their community of San Juan Capistrano in Orange County, California. He appeared at the Superior Court of Orange County for a short pre-trial hearing in a bright green shirt, chains around his waist, and a walker to assist him after police shot him. Gerdvil's appearance is a stark contrast from the selfies he would share on social media before the gruesome attacks. The unimaginable murders occurred on the morning of July 9, when deputies with the Orange County Sheriff's Office responded to a domestic assault call and found Gerdvil's parents and their dog mutilated and decapitated. Gerdvil was caught on police body camera footage only minutes later, covered in blood and chasing a maintenance worker nearby. Deputies responded and found the suspected killer driving a golf cart covered in blood. He was shot by police and transported to a local hospital before he was booked into jail for the double homicide. The gruesome footage revealed Gerdvil walking to the officer, covered in blood. Gerdvil was charged with double homicide in connection with his parents' gruesome murders last July The police officer screamed at the suspect to 'get on the ground' as he yelled incoherently. As he lay on the ground, the deputy directed him to get on his stomach and put his arms out. Officers then arrived on the scene, detained, and handcuffed Gerdvil, who was heard telling police, 'I'm sorry you're going to have to die.' While deputies inspected the suspect for his wounds, he told them, 'Just finish me off. Put one in my head. Put one in my head please. I beg of you.' Gerdvil then began to sing Tina Turner's hit song, What's Love Got to Do with It as officers performed first aid. The suspect was carrying a metal water meter when he charged at the officer. He was later reported to be stable but in serious condition at the hospital. Gerdvil was living with his parents in a mobile home community before their gruesome deaths. Authorities said they were tipped off to the deaths by a cousin, who allegedly received text messages depicting Gerdvil's mother covered in blood. The cousin told dispatchers that Gerdvil suffered from mental health issues and had a history of violence. One of the deputies who responded to the mobile home reported to a dispatcher that there was 'a head on the counter.' Gerdvil was arraigned for two murder charges two days after the shocking sequence of events. He entered a plea of not guilty in December and is due back in court for another pre-trial hearing on September 19.
Daily Mail
10 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Six-year-old British boy is arrested on suspicion of DRUG SMUGGLING in Mauritius 'after £1.6million of cannabis is found in his luggage'
Airport officials swooped on a six-year-old British boy after £1.6million of cannabis was found in his luggage after arriving in Mauritius. The youngster was arrested alongside six other British citizens who had travelled to the tropical Indian Ocean island on Sunday. Customs officials at Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam Airport were stunned to discover 14 kilos of cannabis concealed in the young boy's bag and 17 kilos in luggage belonging to another individual. They have condemned the use of the child as a drugs mule as 'inhumane', according to The Sun. Altogether, 161 kilos of the drug were found hidden throughout several other suitcases. Eleven numbered Apple AirTags were also discovered, suggesting the operation may have been linked to an organised crime gang responsible for smuggling drugs from Europe to Mauritius. The six arrested British adults - all from Cambridgeshire - included Laura Kappen, 28, a bar worker from Orton Goldhay, Shannon Holness, 29, a caterer, from Bretton, Shona Campbell, 33, a cleaner from Standground, Lily Watson, a caterer from Peterborough and window fitter Patrick Wilsdon, 21, also from Peterborough. Romanian national, Florian Lisman, 38, a machine operator living in Huntingdon, was additionally arrested. The youngster has since returned to the UK with his father, who flew out to Mauritius to collect him. On Monday, the seven arrested men and women appeared in court in Mahébourg and remain in custody. The drugs were discovered as part of a joint operation between the Customs Anti-Narcotics Section (CANS) and the Anti-Drug & Smuggling Unit (ADSU) at the airport. Shocked relatives have said they 'can't believe what's happened' after being alerted to the arrests. Carly Wilsdon, mother of Patrick Wilsdon, said her son was 'vulnerable' and had only been abroad once before. It is believed he was offered a 'free holiday' to Mauritius. She said: 'He wouldn't have known what he was doing because he wouldn't get involved in drugs. 'The person who told them about this free holiday is one of his circle of friends but now he has disappeared.' The incident is the latest in a spate of British citizens arrested abroad accused of smuggling drugs, including former air stewardess Charlotte Lee, who was arrested in May in Sri Lanka, after £1.15million worth of cannabis was allegedly found in her luggage, and Bella May Culley, 18, who was intercepted by police in Georgia for allegedly smuggling cannabis. A Foreign Office spokesperson said: 'We are supporting several British nationals who are detained in Mauritius and are in contact with the local authorities.'
BBC News
16 hours ago
- BBC News
Georgia jails six political figures in one week in crackdown on opposition
Georgian opposition leader Nika Melia has become the latest opposition figure to be sent to jail this week in a crackdown described by observers as an unprecedented attack on the country's South Caucausus state has seen months of political turmoil since the government halted its path to join the EU in the wake of disputed prominent politicians have been given jail terms, and another two are in pre-trial detention, so that most of the leaders of the pro-Western opposition are now behind Friday, Nika Melia, one of the leaders of Coalition for Change, was jailed for eight months by a court in Tbilisi and former opposition MP Givi Targamadze was given seven months. The scale and speed of the crackdown has come as a shock, and Nika Melia accused the government of trying to break the courage of Georgians. All of the jailed politicians have been convicted of refusing to testify before a parliamentary commission and barred from holding public office for two years. In what it called "the most severe democratic collapse in Georgia's post-Soviet history", anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International said the governing Georgian Dream party, led by billionaire founder Bidzina Ivanishvili, had launched "a full-scale authoritarian offensive".In a matter of days, jail terms have also been handed down to four other opposition leaders: Giorgi Vashadze, Zurab Japaridze, Badri Japaridze and Mamuka Khazaradze. Another prominent opposition leader, Nika Gvaramia, is in pre-trial detention as well as a former defence minister."The Soviet Union has returned to our present and wants our minds to cling to the past," Nika Melia wrote on Facebook. Georgia regained its independence when the Soviet Union collapsed in said this week that the arrest of opposition leaders was an "unprecedented attack on Georgia's democracy" and it called for an end to "repressive actions". After last October's elections, the opposition accused Ivanishvili's party of stealing the vote. Opposition parties then boycotted parliament and, when the European Parliament denounced the election as neither free nor fair, the ruling party halted Georgia's bid to join the European have since protested in central Tbilisi every night for more than 200 nights, demanding new elections and the release of all prisoners arrested during pro-EU government then set up an investigative parliamentary commission into the "alleged crimes" of the previous government before Georgian Dream came to power in 2012, specifically the period covering Georgia's war with Russia in 2008. Failing to comply with a "lawful request" by a parliamentary commission is a criminal offence under Georgia's criminal code. Opposition politicians have refused to testify, partly because of their boycott of parliament, but also because they reject it as a politically motivated attack on government critics. Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze told parliament on Friday that the commission was doing very important work exposing a previous government that was "entirely built on crime"."Everyone must understand once and for all that there is no place for criminals in Georgian politics."Human rights groups say 500 people have been arrested during the recent street protests and that 300 of them were subjected to torture. As many as 60 people are being held as political prisoners, they journalist Mzia Amaglobeli remains imprisoned, and independent TV stations face censorship and financial ruin. Earlier this week 40 civil society groups said that Bidzina Ivanishvili had "chosen to maintain power through dictatorship, and fundamental human rights are violated every day".Ivanishvili, who is under US sanctions, accumulated his wealth in Russia during the 1990s. He formally retired from politics but is widely believed to have control over all branches of month, a former confidant of Ivanishvili who went on the run said he was "kidnapped from abroad" and flown back to Georgia by force as a political Bachiashvili had been on trial in Georgia accused of misappropriating millions of dollars in a case he said was politically authorities say Bachiashvili, 39, was convicted of a crime while in absentia and will serve his jail lawyer, Robert Amsterdam, told the BBC he was deeply concerned for his safety: "Too many people see him as a highly competent political figure."
