A British student accused of smuggling 30lbs of cannabis into Georgia is the great-granddaughter of a late Labour MP who was caught up in the expenses scandal, MailOnline can reveal.
Bella May Culley, 18, is facing years in a ‘decaying and overcrowded’ prison in the ex-Soviet state after she was arrested at Tbilisi airport on suspicion of drug smuggling.
The teen appeared at the city’s court earlier this week where she declared she was pregnant before invoking her right to remain silent.
She is the descendant of former Stockton North MP of 27 years Frank Cook, who died in 2012 aged 76 a year after being diagnosed with lung cancer.
Culley regularly posts pictures of herself with her ‘special lady’ grandmother, Mr Cook’s daughter, whom she shares a close bond with.
In one wishing her a happy birthday she tells how she loves her ‘unconditionally’ before describing her as ‘one of the most important ladies in my life’.
The veteran backbencher was at the centre of the expenses scandal row in 2009 when it emerged he had claimed for £153,902 – including for a £5 donation made by an aide representing him at a Battle of Britain service.
Mr Cook later explained the claim, on a handwritten note, was an IOU from a member of staff who attended the service and made the donation on his behalf.
Bella May Culley, 18, is facing years in a ‘decaying and overcrowded’ prison in the ex-Soviet state after she was arrested at Tbilisi airport on suspicion of drug smuggling
Culley is the descendant of former Stockton North MP of 27 years Frank Cook, who died in 2012 aged 76 a year after being diagnosed with lung cancer
He described feeling like ‘such a stupid t**t’ before adding: ‘It was a genuine mistake and I stress again: I would never deliberately make a claim of this kind.’
He later lost a libel case against The Sunday Telegraph with a bill for legal costs causing his estate to shrink from £769,115 to £336,688. He stood as an independent in the 2010 General Election but finished fifth and lost his deposit.
Mr Cook’s four adult children were left nothing in his £340,000 will, with all of his estate being left to his ‘too perfect’ exiled Laotian princess second wife Somsangouane Baldinger.
It left his children reeling with them being left nothing to remember him by.
They instead received a box containing £30 worth of items with ‘nothing meaningful’ inside.
It comes as his great-granddaughter appeared to have been living a life of luxury, scuba diving and partying on the tropical islands of Palawan and Panay in the Philippines, where she explored coastal caves and played with turtles.
In posts on TikTok and Instagram, Culley also flaunted huge stacks of cash, showing off a pile of £10 and £20 notes held together by a hairband.
However, her online posts stopped abruptly last week, sparking fears from her family that she may have vanished while on a trip to Thailand.
Culley’s alleged offences have been covered by local news outlets in ex-Soviet nation, Georgia
Alleged suitcase of British citizen Bella May Culley, 18.
Unbeknownst to them, Culley had been detained more than 3,000 miles away in Georgia after allegedly being caught carrying 30 pounds (14kg) of cannabis at Tbilisi International Airport.
Her lawyer confirmed to the Mail that her father Niel is now en route to Tbilisi. His sister Kerrie was due to fly to Thailand to help search for Bella May – but discovered while at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport that her niece had been detained in Georgia.
William Culley told the Mail his granddaughter was ‘intelligent’ and ‘not daft’ and would not knowingly have involved herself with drugs.
Mr Culley said: ‘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… drugs.”
‘I couldn’t believe it. Who the hell has she been with? She was on holiday with some friends, doing what 18-year-olds do – drinking and dancing.
‘They must have met somebody who’s taken advantage of her.’
Mr Culley described his granddaughter as a ‘normal’ 18-year-old who lived with her brother and mother in social housing in Billingham.
The teenager shared a video of herself smoking cannabis while travelling around Thailand
Footage of Culley being marched up the stairs to Central Criminal Police Department in Tbilisi
She told the court she chose to remain silent about the charges brought against her
Bella May Culley pictured smoking cannabis in a video posted to her social media
She had recently completed a college course in Middlesbrough and was making plans to enter the nursing profession.
Mr Culley said: ‘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.
‘We are just hoping that somebody can do something. She must be terrified.’
A former Georgian police officer warned of the lengthy jail sentences the British teen could face.
The nursing student, who has been preliminarily detained for two months as investigations continue, is currently ‘terrified and confused’, according to the lawyer.
It appears she was detained in a planned sting operation by the Black Sea nation’s elite Special Tasks Department, a unit within Georgia’s Central Criminal Police that deals only with the most high-profile cartel and organised crime cases.
Former police general Jemal Janashia, one of the country’s foremost drug crime experts, told the Mail: ‘The fact that she was detained by CrimPol’s Special Tasks Department suggests this wasn’t a random search, but a planned operation.
‘And the quantity of drugs found on her makes it hard to remain optimistic.
‘It’s a grim situation – people have been sentenced to eight years or more for possessing twenty times less in the past decade.’
