The father and aunt of pregnant British drugs mule suspect Bella Culley have been spotted emerging from the public defender’s office in Georgia after they were blocked from seeing the 18-year-old in prison.
Father Neil Culley, 49, and auntie Kerrie Culley, 51, touched down in Tbilisi yesterday and pushed for an emotional reunion with the 18-year-old who is accused of carrying 30lbs of cannabis into the ex-Soviet republic.
Legal sources told the Mail the relatives tried to visit on Wednesday and again today, but were not allowed because the prison director has not signed relevant paperwork.
It is understood they are pushing to visit tomorrow, but are reliant on officials signing it off.
Culley was stopped at Tbilisi airport earlier this week in a suspected sting operation and found with 12kg of cannabis and 2kg of hashish with a street value of £200,000.
She claimed in court she was pregnant and her lawyer said she had been left ‘scared, confused and depressed’. Her lawyer also described how the teen broke down on being told she could face life behind bars if convicted.
Culley has been preliminarily detained until July 1 while investigations are ongoing.
She is languishing in notorious Women’s Colony Number 5 on the outskirts of Tbilisi, and could be facing 20 years in prison.
But while Culley is investigated on suspicion of drug offences, she could spend up to nine months in the hellhole jail. The prosecutor asked for 55 days to find evidence before the case is brought to trial but this could be extended by a further seven months.
Father Neil Culley, 49, and auntie Kerrie Culley, 51, touched down in Tbilisi yesterday and pushed for an emotional reunion with the 18-year-old who is accused of carrying 30lbs of cannabis into the ex-Soviet republic
Her father and auntie have been locked in talks with British Embassy officials since their arrival and are not speaking to the press
Bella May Culley, 18, was reported missing while she was said to have been on holiday in Thailand sparking a huge search to find her
Culley’s alleged offences have been covered by local news outlets in ex-Soviet nation, Georgia
Culley was stopped at Tbilisi airport earlier this week in a suspected sting operation and found with 12kg of cannabis and 2kg of hashish with a street value of £200,000
The foreboding exterior of Tbilisi’s N.5 Penitentiary Establishment, Georgia’s main Women’s Prison, where County Durham teenager and British drugs suspect Bella May Culley, 18, is being held
Amid the rising tensions, her father and auntie have been locked in talks with British Embassy officials since their arrival and are not speaking to the press.
Culley recently revealed he had been instructed by his son to market the house to raise money towards legal help for his daughter, who had recently started doing bank shifts as a nurse.
He said he was ‘surprised’ when lawyers for Bella revealed she is pregnant. ‘I only found out when my daughter told me last night.’
When the duty lawyer explained her rights, the teenager ‘was in an emotional state,’ they told the Mail.
‘When I explained to her that what she was accused of was an especially severe crime then she was concerned and visibly shaken.’
Asked whether she thought Bella May realised the full extent of her alleged actions, her lawyer said: ‘My impression was that she ended up in Georgia without even knowing what she was doing.’
She added: ‘She looked like she didn’t expect it to have such severe consequences.’
Asked what sort of sentence she is looking at, Ms Ia Todua confirmed that if convicted Culley faces a minimum term of 15 years but could be jailed for life.
But she added if she co-operates this could be reduced – and the fact she is young and possibly pregnant would help in mitigation if she pleads guilty and assists in the investigation.
Asked what her requests were on their first meeting, Ms Todua said: ‘The only thing she asked was for me to contact her family.
‘She gave me their emails, but there was some mistake in how they were written down and the delivery failed.
‘We tried to send the emails, but they came back.’
Asked if Culley has yet to explain to her lawyer how she came to be in possession of 14kg of drugs, Ms Todua said: ‘No, she hasn’t.’ She confirmed her family do not know either.
The huge haul of drugs was found in her hold luggage, while her carry-on bag only had clothes in it. She was flying into the country on a plane from Sharjah in the UAE.
Zurab Tatunashvili, a senior customs officer, described the discovery of drugs in the bag of the 18-year-old girl.
He said: ‘I was inspecting luggage using an X-ray scanner.
‘One of the bags appeared suspicious based on its contents, so I marked it with a customs sticker, which indicates that it must undergo a physical inspection in the presence of the passenger in a specially designated room.’
Culley has undergone medical tests to determine if she is pregnant, but Ms Todua is not at liberty to confirm or deny if her client is pregnant.
Now she faced 20 years to life behind bars in a Georgian prison as she stands accused of smuggling 14kg cannabis into the country
A massive international search operation this week after she was reported missing as she was believed to be holidaying in Thailand
She said: ‘The first thing they do is a medical check up, and obviously the pregnancy situation is investigated and checked, but without Bella’s explicit approval I cannot confirm nor deny anything.’
Ms Todua said she will next visit her client next week while her relatives are still anxiously waiting for a chance to see her.
‘Bella has written a letter to the authorities asking them to allow her father to visit, buy they have not yet responded,’ she said.
‘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.’
Todua told Radio Free Europe (RFE): ‘When the accusation was presented, given that it was a foreign environment for her, it was her first time communicating with law enforcement officers, we agreed on such a position that she should exercise her right to remain silent in order to develop herself.’
Law enforcement is expected to contact the suspect ‘in a few days’ in her detention jail.
‘If she wishes to cooperate with the investigation in terms of providing certain information regarding the accusation, this will be agreed upon later,’ reported RFE citing the lawyer.
It is possible that a separate legal team will be hired.
Todua confirmed earlier this week that Culley’s father Neil was headed to Tbilisi after having flown to Thailand, where she initially went missing.
The British Embassy in Tbilisi told RFE: ‘We are assisting the family of the British woman detained in Georgia and are also in contact with the local authorities.’
The report said that neither the Ministry of Internal Affairs nor the Customs Department of the Revenue Service of the Ministry of Finance in Tbilisi say which country the British woman entered Georgia from, nor whether Georgia was her final destination.
Any onward travel plans have not been disclosed.
But Todua told RFE that according to the case materials, Culley arrived in Georgia from Thailand and, according to her travel tickets, intended to stay in Georgia.
The suspect is accused of carrying 34 hermetically sealed packages containing marijuana as well as 20 packages of hashish into the ex-Soviet republic.
Culley sparked a massive international search operation in recent days after she was reported missing while she was believed to be holidaying in Thailand.
The student originally set off to the Philippines to meet an old friend when she fell in with a gang of British lads who were headed to Thailand, it has emerged.
Pictured: The exterior of Tbilisi Prison No.5, which is Georgia’s only female prison
All the cells in the Georgian prison were said to have smelled ‘strongly of human sweat, human excrement, and cigarette smoke,’ according to a 2006 report
Bella May Culley could face up to as much as 20 years or life behind bars in the prison previously described as ‘inhumane’ and an ‘affront to civilised society’ by the Human Rights Watch
They reportedly persuaded her to change her original itinerary and head to Thailand with them. But on Tuesday night it was revealed the teen had been arrested 4,000 miles away on drug offences in Georgia.
Footage shared by local broadcasters appeared to show the 18-year-old being walked into the Central Criminal Police Department in Tbilisi while in handcuffs.
Culley was reportedly charged with illegally purchasing and storing a particularly large amount of narcotics, illegally purchasing and storing the narcotic drug marijuana, and illegally importing it into Georgia.
The country’s Interior Ministry has said the committed crime ‘envisions up to 20 years – or life imprisonment,’ and while she requested bail, the judge overseeing the case decided to imprison her as she posed a flight risk, local media reported.
Now, the British teen could face two decades or more behind bars in the country’s only female prison, Tbilisi Prison No.5, located 45 minutes away from the ex-Soviet capital.
Stark photographs of the facilities sterile interior show what the life the teen could face if convicted and sentenced to imprisonment in Georgia – in a lock up reports say is decaying.
When reports first emerged of Culley vanishing, it was believed she was on holiday in southeast Asia, as she was last believed to be in the Pattaya area, near Bangkok. Her phone was also believed to have been turned off.
Cleveland Police have since said authorities in Georgia have confirmed that ‘an 18-year-old woman from Billingham’ had been arrested ‘on suspicion of drugs offences and that she remains in their custody’.
The teenager’s family previously said she first flew out to the Philippines just after Easter this year and had then flown to Thailand around May 3.
Culley had been regularly posting on social media and last shared a picture to Facebook on Monday, May 5.
Her distraught family initially appealed for help to trace her whereabouts, with police in Thailand also involved in the search.
Culley, who recently finished a course at Middlesbrough College with the aim of becoming a nurse, was in regular contact with her mother Lyanne Kennedy.
She could face 20 years jail or even life imprisonment, the Georgian Ministry of Internal Affairs has said
She was scheduled to speak with her on Saturday. Her father Neil Culley and her aunt, Kerrie, had travelled to the southeast Asian country in a bid to get answers.
But now, she faces time in Tbilisi Prison No.5.
A Human Rights Watch (HRW) report into the lock up previously criticised the ‘severely overcrowded’ facility after they alongside Amnesty International and Penal Reform International urged the Georgian government to end ill-treatment in their prisons in 2006.
The European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment (CPT) described the conditions at No 5 as ‘degrading’, ‘inhuman’ and as such ‘an affront to a civilised society’ that same year.
A HRW report also detailed the facility as being in a ‘state of disrepair’ at the time, with ‘crumbling’ walls and floors with some inmates having to sit on ‘two tier metal bunk beds’ when they were not sleeping.
The bathroom were described as ‘decaying and flithy’, while all the cells were said to have smelled ‘strongly of human sweat, human excrement, and cigarette smoke,’ with garbage also found scattered near cell doors.
Before police confirmed Culley’s arrest, her mother Lyanne told Teesside Live: ‘She flew out to the Philippines after Easter with a friend and she was there for three weeks.
‘She was posting loads of pictures and then she went to Thailand on about May 3.
‘The last message she sent was to me and that was on Saturday at 5.30pm saying she was going to Facetime me later.
Questions remain as to how exactly Culley ended up in Georgia – and what her steps were in the lead up
The 18-year-old was reportedly charged with illegally purchasing and storing a particularly large amount of narcotics, illegally purchasing and storing the narcotic drug marijuana, and illegally importing it into Georgia
She is accused of bringing ‘a particularly large amount of narcotic drugs to Georgia’
‘That was the last message anyone has received from what we can figure out up to now.
‘I’m just waiting on her dad who is now in Bangkok to get back with any more information. I just want her home and safe or to hear her gorgeous little voice.’
Her distraught mother had also told the Sun that she had a bad feeling about the 18-year-old’s trip to Thailand.
‘I really didn’t want her to go to Thailand. I begged her to come home. I don’t trust some of the boys over there,’ she said.
‘But she wanted to meet up with some friends she made over there on a previous trip. I don’t know who any of them are.’
When Culley’s father Neil was told by officers at the Bangkok police station to contact the country’s immigration bureau to figure out where she was last staying.
The family previously contacted an airline, who revealed that Culley had made a request for a ticket but the payment never went through.
Lyanne said: ‘When she stopped answering messages I assumed it was because she was flying back to surprise me. But then nothing.’
The distraught mother added: ‘We think she was last near Pattaya, and was supposed to fly back from Bangkok via Frankfurt according to the itinerary.
‘But I never heard anything about picking her up.’
