Brit teen ‘cannabis smuggler' Bella Culley, 18, arrested in Georgia is great-granddaughter of late Labour grandee

The Sun

15-05-2025

A BRIT teen held in Georgia accused of smuggling 30lb of marijuana is the great-granddaughter of a Labour MP who was caught up in the parliamentary expenses scandal.
Bella May Culley faces life in prison in a brutal ex-Soviet slammer after she was arrested at Tbilisi airport on suspicion of drug smuggling.
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The 18-year-old appeared in court earlier this week, where she said was pregnant before stating she would reserve the right to remain silent.
But the nursing student from County Durham is the great-granddaughter of ex-Stockton North Labour MP Frank Cook, who passed away in 2012, the MailOnline has reported.
Culley is reported to regularly post pictures with her "special lady" grandmother - who is the late MP's daughter.
In one post wishing her happy birthday, she says she loves her "unconditionally" before calling her "one of the most important ladies in my life".
Cook, who represented Stockton North for 27 years, was among the MPs implicated in the 2009 expenses row that rocked Westminster to its core.
It transpired he had claimed for £153,902, which included a £5 donation made by an aide representing him at a memorial service.
However, he would later explain this donation was an IOU from the member of staff who went to the service on his behalf - and that he expensed it by mistake.
"It was a genuine mistake and I stress again: I would never deliberately make a claim of this kind," he said.
He would later lose a libel case against The Sunday Telegraph following the revelations.
Cook stood as an independent candidate in his constituency at the 2010 general election after being deselected by Labour, but he failed to retain the seat.
He died in 2012 at the age of 76 - a year after being diagnosed with lung cancer.
Culley was arrested after she was allegedly caught trying to sneak 34 bags of marijuana in her luggage through the Georgian capital's main airport.
She had been reported missing in Thailand - where she had been travelling - before she was arrested 4,000 miles away.
Her family had raised the alarm after she failed to contact anyone since Saturday - despite usually being a prolific texter.
Her dad Neil Culley, who lives in Vietnam, has reportedly flown to the Eastern European nation to be by his daughter's side.
A loved-one said: "She is just a student - she doesn't really go out or do anything like that. She just wanted a break so took herself to Thailand.
"She must have become mixed up with someone. She must have met someone who has taken advantage of her."
Authorities in Georgia claim she tried to stash 34 bags of cannabis in her luggage which was detected at the airport.
A report by Georgia's ombudsman into Women's Penitentiary No. 5 outlines the horrors that could await the Brit teenager.
"When prisoners are received at the No.5 Facility,
they are inspected naked and are requested to squat, which the inmates consider degrading treatment," the report reads.
"According to inmates, this procedure is especially humiliating and intensive during an inmate's menstrual cycle."
Hygiene problems are said to be rampant, with reports of no running drinking water and clogged drains.
Just earlier this year, the journalist Mzia Amaglobeli went on hunger strike inside the women's prison in protest against Georgia's government.
In 2006, a Tbilisi prison saw seven inmates killed and 17 seriously injured in one of the country's worst ever prison riots.
Authorities were accused of using excessive force.
A Human Rights Watch report has found Georgia's prisons are "severely overcrowded" - which threatens the safety of inmates.
Georgia's Interior Ministry says she could face 20 years or even a life sentence in an overcrowded Women's Penitentiary No. 5 in Rustavi
The country has been blasted for its treatment of its prisoners by rights groups.
Culley's paternal grandfather said: "I'm terrified that she's in for a long sentence. I might never see her again - I'm 80 years old.
"She's got sucked into something, somehow. She's not an international drug trafficker.
"It's all just very strange and at the moment we just don't have any answers. We don't know what to think."
Bella's lawyer said after her court appearance: "My client is currently exercising the right to remain silent, so we will provide detailed information later, once they decide how to proceed."
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