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BELLA MAY CULLEY, 18, IS FACING DRUG SMUGGLING CHARGES IN GEORGIA AND COULD BE JAILED FOR UP TO 20 YEARS AFTER SHE WAS ALLEGEDLY FOUND WITH UP TO 14 KILOGRAMMES OF CANNABIS PHIL CARDY Senior
Reporter and ABIGAIL HUNT Assistant News Editor 09:38, 15 May 2025 A heartbroken grandad is in turmoil as his British granddaughter faces serious drug smuggling charges in Georgia. Bella
May Culley, 18, could be locked up for anywhere between 20 years to a lifetime after allegedly being caught with up to 14 kilos of cannabis, say Georgian authorities. Eighty-year-old William
Culley has voiced his dread at the prospect of not seeing his "intelligent" granddaughter again, with family members dashing to Tbilisi to stand by Bella during her grave
courtroom drama. Sitting in his Billingham home within a stone's throw of North Yorkshire, Mr Culley confided: "I'm terrified that she's in for a long sentence. I might
never see her again - I'm 80 years old. She's got sucked into something, somehow. She's not an international drug trafficker." The distraught granddad went on: "Can
she even tell them who's given her the drugs to take over? I bet she doesn't. These people keep out of the way. It's all just very strange and at the moment we just don't
have any answers. We don't know what to think." He relayed how his son Niel made the trek from Vietnam to Georgia to support Bella behind bars. Meanwhile, Neil's sister
Kerrie was gearing up to travel to Thailand to help locate Bella but discovered at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport that her niece had been arrested thousands of miles away in Georgia,
according to the Mirror. Article continues below The family was left devastated after their beloved teenager disappeared during a sunny holiday, with her grandad, Mr Culley, stressing that
she's both "intelligent" and "not daft", puzzled why she'd get mixed up with drugs. He recounted: "She was just going on holiday and then we never heard
from her. We feared the worst because nobody knew where she was. "Kerrie called me last night and said she had been found. I said, 'how can you have found her? You're in
Schiphol'. And she said 'we found her, she's in jail'. "I said, 'in jail? what's she doing in jail? And then she said, 'drugs'. I couldn't
believe it. Who the hell has she been with?" According to Mr Culley, his granddaughter was merely vacationing with friends, doing typical 18-year-old activities like having drinks and
dancing when someone must have preyed on her innocence. Describing his granddaughter as a "normal" 18-year-old from a social housing home in Billingham, where she lives with her
brother and mum, Mr Culley added that she had recently completed a college course in Middlesbrough and was aspiring to be a nurse. Mr Culley further lamented: "She's not daft,
she's an intelligent girl. Why has she done it? Has someone dangled money in front of her? We just don't know what has gone on until we get out there and talk to her." Article
continues below He finished with a plea for help, hoping someone could assist, as his granddaughter must be scared beyond words: "We are just hoping that somebody can do something. She
must be terrified." The shocking sight of the 18-year-old in handcuffs being marched into Tbilisi's Central Criminal Police Department has rocked the nation, as she stares down
the barrel of up to 20 years in one of Georgia's fearsome prisons. Georgia's Interior Ministry warned Ms Culley could be staring at "envisions up to 20 years - or life
imprisonment" for her supposed misdeeds. She's currently being detained as she waits for her day in court, with local news reporting she is a flight risk after her bail application
was denied.