Two years in jail for Billingham cannabis mule

PREGNANT TEEN'S FAMILY PAYS £138,000 IN PLEA AGREEMENT

- By POPPY KENNEDY, PATRICK HILL and VAZHA TAVBERIDZE

TEESSIDE “drug mule” Bella Culley has been told she will receive a two-year prison sentence after accepting a plea agreement with Georgian prosecutors.

The 19-year-old, who is 25 weeks pregnant, will be formally sentenced next week for allegedly attempting to smuggle drugs into the former Soviet republic earlier this year.

A court in the capital Tbilisi was informed yesterday that Culley's family, including her mother Lyanne Kennedy, 44, who works as a charity worker, and her dad Niel Culley, 49, an oil rig technician, have successfully paid 500,000 Georgian Lari (£138,000) to the court.

Bella appeared surprised as the agreement's details were read out during a brief hearing at Tbilisi City Court.

However, the teenager, who has already spent five months in custody on remand, was observed smiling and and waved at her mum.