Race to free Bella before baby is born

Drugs mule could be out by Christmas hope lawyers

- BY PATRICK HILL

PREGNANT teen drug smuggler Bella Culley's lawyers are hoping to get her released from jail before she gives birth in December.

The revelation comes despite the 19-year-old agreeing a plea deal which will see her handed a two-year jail term.

Culley will be formally sentenced on Monday for allegedly attempting to smuggle drugs into Georgia from Thailand. A court in the capital Tbilisi yesterday heard her mum Lyanne Kennedy, 44, and dad Niel Culley, 49, an oil rig technician, have paid €138,000 to the court.

Culley - understood to be 35 weeks pregnant - had previously been told she could face up to 20 years behind bars.

It is not known whether she will serve her sentence in jail in Tbilisi, be put under house arrest, or be extradited to the UK.

But the Mirror can reveal the mum-to-be's legal team are looking at applying for a presidential pardon to get her released.