Brit ‘drug smuggler’ Bella Culley ‘starving’ in ex-Soviet hell prison – as she reveals pregnancy craving to celeb lawyer
PREGNANT drugs charge teenager Bella Culley has spoken for the first time of her ordeal in a cold jail cell in Georgia – and her cravings for tuna fish.
British 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.
She will spend at least nine months on remand in a grim Soviet-era jail alongside hardened criminals and faces a sentence from 15 years to life if convicted of importing a huge stash.
But no word of how the teenager was coping after six days behind bars in capital Tbilisi’s grim No5 Women’s Penitentiary had emerged – until today.
Bella, from Billingham, County Durham was allowed to speak to glamorous Georgian lawyer Mariam Kublashvili for 30 minutes on Monday.
Celebrity lawyer Ms Kublashvili has appeared on Georgia’s version of Strictly Come Dancing and represented British “speedboat killer” Jack Shepherd when he fled to the country.
And she told The Sun that the shy and scared young Briton was a victim rather than a calculating criminal who deserves to be caged for years.
Ms Kublashvili, 39, said “sad but calm” Bella appeared visibly cold in a thin green top and green leggings with her hair untied when they met in a draughty meeting room.
She constantly thanked the prison advocate during their talk and appeared timid and reserved as she quietly set out her concerns.
Ms Kublashvili told The Sun: “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.
“I have a 20 year old child myself and can only imagine what her parents must be feeling.”
Ms Kublashvili went on to tell how Bella spoke of her pregnancy – and complained she is being denied proper medical examination.
The teenager’s family are distraught after she flew to the Far East on holiday to meet a mystery man called “Ross or Russ” who introduced her to Brits suspected of running drug mules.
And their concerns were compounded when she announced she was having a baby when she appeared in court to face charges of importing 31lb of cannabis and hashish last Wednesday.
Ms Kublashvili said: “She is pregnant and needs medical care which she complained she wasn’t getting.
“She asked me for tuna fish which I thought was odd and might have been something to do with pregnancy cravings – but I found out later fish cannot be sent in.
“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.”
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 local legal aid lawyer Ia Todua.
Niel is estranged from Bella’s UK-based mum Lyanne Kennedy who has struggled to find enough cash to fly to Georgia.
Ms Kublashvili said: “She expects her dad to visit either Tuesday or sometime later.
“She asked me if a jumper and warmer clothes – size medium – could be sent to her.
“I’m obviously happy to do that. She wants fruit as well and doesn’t like what she is fed in the prison at all. I will be sending fruit over too.
“She is sad and would very much like to go home.”
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.
The lawyer added: “She is getting along well with her inmates – two of them, Anastasya and Ani.
“She asked me to get in touch with her dad – she said she knew he was getting lawyers and that carried significant financial costs.
“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.”
Ms Kublashvili emerged with a food shopping list from the teenager for chicken fillets, beef or veal, bread, apples, pears and pomegranates.
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 spliff and showing off wads of cash.
Her dad Niel is liaising with the British Embassy in Tbilisi and is understood to be seeking a new lawyer after being denied access to her for nearly a week.
Ms Kublashvili is the former Soviet state’s best-known celebrity lawyer.
In 2019, the tough advocate was previously employed by British “speedboat killer” Jack Shepherd who fled to Georgia.
He was convicted in his absence of the manslaughter of Tinder date Charlotte Brown, 24, who fell out of his speedboat as he showed off on the Thames.
Web designer Shepherd from Devon was sentenced to six years in 2018 for Charlotte’s manslaughter after being initially treated as a witness after the crash.
He bolted to Georgia following his conviction when he was eventually convicted after a jury heard the boat was speeding at more than twice the limit when it capsized.
The case sparked outrage when The Sun revealed he won taxpayer-funded legal aid to appeal his conviction while on the run.
He eventually turned himself in to the Georgian authorities, but still maintained his innocence, claiming that Charlotte was driving at the time the speedboat crashed.
Shepherd, now 36, was extradited to the UK in 2019 and served the rest of his sentence in a British jail before his release last year.
He remains on probation and is the subject of a travel ban.