Brit 'drug mule' Bella Culley's family given three weeks to raise £215,000 to free pregnant teen
The family of British ‘drug mule’ Bella Culley have been told they have just three weeks to raise £215,000 to free her from a Georgian prison.
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The pregnant teen, who is expected to give birth by Christmas, has been behind bars in the eastern European country ever since she was accused of smuggling cannabis into Georgia earlier this year.
Ms Culley, 19, faces life behind bars or 20 years in prison if convicted– but she was told a "substantial" sum of money is needed to either reduce her sentence or free her entirely.
Now, her family has been told they have until October 28 to raise money to avoid a sentencing hearing on November 2.
Read more: Thai police dispute Bella Culley’s drug torture claims as new CCTV footage released
Her mother, Lyanne Kennedy, 44, a charity worker, and father, Niel Culley, 49, have been scrambling to raise funds but are far short of the total, according to the Daily Mail.
Asked how the parents would secure the money, Ms Kennedy said: “You need to speak to her dad. All my money has gone on visiting, six times now."
It had been hoped Ms Culley would be released today but Georgian authorities have kept her in custody after they said they never received the cash.
Ms Kennedy said: “We thought this would be the day but sadly not.
“She is a bit anxious because she expected to go free today, but sadly it couldn't happen. I am visiting her tomorrow. She is expecting her child by Christmas.”
At a hearing in July, Cully said she was ‘forced by torture’ into smuggling drugs.
“I didn’t want to do this. I was forced by torture. I just wanted to travel. I study at the university… to become a nurse.
"All I wanted to do was to travel and this happened to me. I’m clean - I had nothing in my blood test. I wanted to make my family proud. Thanks for listening,” she told a court in Tbilisi.
The teenager was reported missing in Thailand by her family, before she was found in Georgia, accused of taking in about 14kg of cannabis and hashish.
Ms Culley, from Bellingham on Teeside, had not committed any crime before, a court was previously told.