A pregnant British woman has walked free from prison after being accused of drug smuggling.
Bella Culley, aged 19, faced 20 years behind bars after she was caught in Tbilisi, Georgia, with £200,000 worth of cannabis in her luggage in May.
However, she has now been released under a new plea agreement that sentenced her to the almost six months had already spent in jail.
Culley, who is eight months pregnant, said she had not been expecting to walk free and was "happy and relieved" at the news.
Her mother, Lyanne Kennedy, held her daughter’s hand as she was released.
She was sentenced to five months and 24 days she had already served in jail in the South Caucasus country, where she had been arrested at the airport on arrival in May after going missing in Thailand.
Culley, from Billingham in County Durham, also paid a fine of 500,000 lari (more than £140,000).
Georgian prosecutors say she was carrying 12kg (26lbs) of marijuana and 2kg of hashish in her luggage.
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Bella Culley held her mother's hand as she was released
|REUTERS/IRAKLI GEDENIDZE
The teenager and her defence team had said she was tortured in Thailand and forced to transport the drugs.
She initially pleaded not guilty at a hearing in July to possession and trafficking of illegal drugs.
The case prosecutor, Vakhtang Tsalughelashvili, said authorities had adjusted her plea agreement after taking into account her young age and pregnancy.
"We are very grateful that they took Bella's situation and financial condition into consideration," Culley's lawyer, Malkhaz Salakaia, said.
Bella Culley said she was 'happy and relieved' at the news of her release
|REUTERS/IRAKLI GEDENIDZE
Lawyers representing the teenager have been locked in negotiations with judicial authorities in Georgia.
Her family had paid more than £137,000 as part of a plea deal aimed at reducing her sentence.
Ms Kennedy yesterday revealed her daughter had been transferred to prison with a mother and baby unit.
The teen was previously being held Georgia’s Rustavi Prison Number Five where she only had access to a hole in the ground for a toilet, one hour of fresh air each day and communal showers twice a week, according to the BBC.
Ms Kennedy told the broadcaster her conditions had improved in the new prison, saying: "They all cook for each other – Bella has been making eggy bread and cheese toasties, and salt and pepper chicken."