Brit ‘smuggler' Bella Culley, 18, ‘receiving NO medical care' behind bars in grim ex-Soviet jail

The Sun

19-05-2025

BRIT drugs charge teenager Bella Culley is being denied proper medical care in her bleak jail cell in Georgia - despite telling the authorities she is pregnant.
Backpacker Bella, 18, is in custody following her arrest in Georgia's Tbilisi airport with a suitcase of cannabis after going missing 4,000 miles away in Thailand.
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She will spend at least nine months on remand in a grim Soviet-era lock-up alongside hardened criminals and faces a sentence from 15 years to life if convicted of importing the huge stash.
Celebrity Georgian lawyer Mariam Kublashvili, 39, was allowed to visit Bella for 30 minutes on Monday and brought the first news of her condition behind bars.
Shockingly, she revealed the pregnant teen had not received a proper medical examination since telling a Tbilisi court she was pregnant.
She also assessed that the shy and scared young Briton was a victim rather than a calculating criminal who deserves to be caged for years.
Ms Kublashvili said: 'She is pregnant and needs medical care which she complained she wasn't getting.
'She told me no tests, checks or medical examinations have been done.
'She said she asked for a doctor, but the doctor wasn't speaking English and they couldn't understand each other.'
The Sun also revealed that Bella could be forced to being up her child behind bars in unforgiving conditions.
Experts spoke of their fears for her unborn child which could spend the first three years of its life in a prison nursery.
Eliso Rukhadze, Georgian women's rights defender and lawyer told The Sun last week: 'Bella will be transferred to a hospital to have the baby and then rushed back to prison.
Bella Culley's dad stands by daughter amid fears drug gangs are targeting Brit backpackers
'Over the last few years, a large amount of funds have been allocated to make the space as comfortable as possible.
'Equipment is modern. There is a kindergarten and nursery too to create the best possible conditions for the child in the prison.
'For up to three years, the child would grow up there and the mom would have unrestricted access to the child - including breastfeeding.
'They would have to be cared for by a family member.
"The nationality will add complications. If the child is Georgian, and the family is British, they will have to take extra steps to be given wardship of the child.
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'It won't be put up for adoption. The child will only be given to members of the family, but it adds an extra layer of bureaucracy.'
Bella's pregnancy has yet to be confirmed by medical checks - but her dad, Neil, 49, appeared distressed as he faced the possibility of his first grandchild being born in prison.
Puffing shakily on a cigarette, the dad told The Sun: 'I'm sorry - I don't want to say anything.'
Ms Kublashvili painted a sorrowful picture of a 'sad but calm' Bella - who she said appeared visibly cold in a thin green top and leggings with her hair untied when they met in a draughty meeting room.
She said the teen constantly thanked the prison advocate during their talk and appeared timid and reserved as she quietly set out her concerns.
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Ms Kublashvili said: 'My Initial impression was very positive - she is very open, very pleasant, and charming. She doesn't fit the profile of a drug trafficker at all.
'For anyone, like me, with experience in dealing with such cases, it would be quite obvious that she is a victim here - she's been used and manipulated.
'She is sad and would very much like to go home. I have a 20-year-old child myself and can only imagine what her parents must be feeling.
'But I have a great deal of experience helping women in situations like this and want to do all I can for her so I'm offering my services free of charge."
The glam lawyer is the former-Soviet state's best-known celebrity lawyer - and was previously employed by British "speedboat killer" Jack Shepherd who fled to Georgia.
She emerged from the jail on Monday with a food shopping list from the teenager for chicken fillets, beef or veal, bread, apples, pears and pomegranates.
The 18-year-old had also asked for tuna, which Kublashvili thought could be a pregnancy craving, but that isn't allowed to be sent in.
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Her others requests included warmer clothes and for the lawyer to broker a visit from her father - which is expected to happen either on Tuesday or later in the week.
Bella's Vietnam-based oil rig electrician dad Niel, 39, and her aunt Kerrie Culley flew to Georgia to support her but have so far been blocked from visiting by jail red tape.
The father told The Sun he will stay 'as long as it takes' to help end her ordeal and is currently dealing with a local legal aid lawyer.
Niel is estranged from Bella's UK-based mum Lyanne Kennedy who has struggled to find enough cash to fly to Georgia.
Bella is sharing a cell at the prison with two other women inmates, but it was unclear what crimes they have been accused of or committed, Ms Kublashvili said.
Bella was detained in Georgia following a tip-off on May 11 after a 20-hour flight from Bangkok via Sharjah in the UAE with the drug stash in her hold bag.
She had spent weeks away having holiday fun in the Philippines and Thailand where she met a group of young men from the north west of England.
She joked online of 'Bonnie and Clyde' hijinks and was pictured smoking a suspicious-looking cigarette and showing off wads of cash.