Pregnant Bella Culley is set to fly home to the UK tonight after prosecutors decided to show the British teenager mercy.
The 19-year-old was released from a Georgian prison yesterday after a last-minute reprieve allowed her to leave the country.
She will be accompanied by her mother on the flight due to land tonight.
Despite concerns that she was past the normal 36-week limit to fly, her lawyer, Malkhaz Salakaia, confirmed she wouldn’t need any special permission to travel.
Culley had been kept in jail after authorities accused her of smuggling 12 kg of marihuana and 2kg of hashish into Georgia in May.
Yesterday, it was expected that she would be sentenced to two years in prison, but prosecutors made a dramatic U-turn and asked for her release.
She is said to have erupted in tears and laughter when the judge decided to free her.
Her mother, Lyanne Kennedy, who was there to support her, broke down outside the court yesterday and told reporters: ‘ I am so happy – so happy. I know I don’t look like it, but I am so happy.
‘We will need to get her passport, and then we leave. Either today or tomorrow.’
In the last week, her parents had managed to raise a staggering £140,000 fine to help reduce their daughter’s sentence.
An emotional Culley, from Billingham, Teeside, was seen yesterday walking out of the courthouse as a free woman.
She called her father, Niel, to give him the good news, telling him: ‘I’m not in jail anymore’. Overcome with excitement, he responded: ‘Wahay! That’s brilliant.’
Bella Culley is due to fly back into the UK tonight
In court, the prosecutor Vakhtang Tsalugelashvili said: ‘It was our initiative – we took into consideration her age, her condition and her good behaviour, and that she fully cooperated.
‘We ask the judge to find Bella Culley guilty of 242a of the Georgian criminal code and be sentenced to five months and 25 days in prison with an additional fine of 500,000GEL.
‘The confiscated drugs will be destroyed, including her bag, while other personal belongings will be returned to her.’
Judge Giorgi Gelashvili, then asked the prosecutor if Culley should be set free, to which he replied: ‘Yes, we would like her to be released today.’
The judge agreed to release her, but cautioned that there would be no mitigating circumstance if she repeats the offence.
He said: ‘The sentence is five months and 24 days and an additional fine of 500,000 Georgian lari. The arrest will be rescinded as the time spent in preliminary detention will be taken into account.’
Culley, ecstatic at the news, hugged her mother after the decision was read out and said: ‘ I didn’t expect this at all. This is a huge surprise.’
This is a breaking news story with more to follow
