Lawyer of jailed Teesside teen Bella Culley criticises embassy

The lawyer of a British teenager accused of drug smuggling and held in prison in Georgia, South Caucasus, has accused the British embassy of not doing enough to help her.

Bella Culley, from Billingham on Teesside, has not had a visit from the embassy since her family appointed a legal representative and it had not provided any written references, he said.

Malakhaz Salakaia, who specialises in juvenile law, said he was “dissatisfied” with the British authorities for not supporting his client.

The Foreign Office said it was speaking to the 19-year-old’s family but confirmed only one in-person visit had been made to the prison, on 16 May.

Miss Culley is detained while prosecution and defence lawyers discuss whether a deal can be made for her release.

She has been told a “substantial” sum of money is needed to free her or reduce her sentence, which could be up to 20 years in jail or life imprisonment.

The teenager is about five months pregnant and Mr Salakaia said the embassy had not checked on her health.

A Foreign Office spokesperson said: “We are supporting a British woman who is detained in Georgia and are in contact with her family and the local authorities.”

Miss Culley initially went missing in Thailand before being arrested at Tbilisi International Airport on 10 May.

It is understood she arrived on a flight from Sharjah, in the United Arab Emirates.

Georgian Police said officers seized narcotic drugs from a travel bag.

Miss Culley was detained for months while the prosecution investigated where the 12kg (26lbs) of marijuana and 2kg (4.4lbs) of hashish came from, and whether she was planning to hand them over to someone else.

At a hearing in July she pleaded not guilty to charges of possession and trafficking illegal drugs and claimed she had been “forced to do this through torture”.

“I just wanted to travel,” she said. “I am a good person. I am a student at university. I am a clean person. I don’t do drugs.”