Family of Bella Culley pay £140k in bid to free pregnant teen held for drug trafficking

The family of a pregnant British teenager, Bella Culley, has confirmed they paid $187,000 (£140,000) to a Georgian court on Tuesday to secure her release.

It followed her arrest on drug smuggling charges earlier this year.

Nineteen-year-old Ms Culley, from Billingham, northeast England, was apprehended at Tbilisi airport in May upon her arrival in the South Caucasus nation.

Her arrest followed a period where she had been reported missing in Thailand. Georgian prosecutors allege she was found with 12kg of marijuana and 2kg of hashish in her luggage.

Drug smuggling carries a prison sentence of up to 20 years in Georgia. Culley has been held at a women's prison in Rustavi, a city just outside Tbilisi.

Culley's mother, Lyanne Kennedy, told reporters outside the Tbilisi courthouse on Tuesday that the family had paid 500,000 lari ($186,846) and were waiting for the funds to be credited to the relevant government account.

Asked about the health of her daughter Kennedy said: "She's looking big, pregnant, but she looks strong."

Culley's lawyer, Malkhaz Salakaia, said the court would hold another hearing on the case next Monday.

Culley initially pleaded not guilty at a hearing in July to possession and trafficking illegal drugs, and said she had been tortured into transporting them.

She said she was a "clean person" and did not do drugs.