A 19-year-old British woman who is eight months pregnant has been moved to a mother-and-baby unit in a Georgian prison. Bella May Culley, from Teesside, was arrested at Tbilisi Airport in May after authorities allege she tried to smuggle 12 kilograms of marijuana and two kilograms of hashish into Georgia. She had previously been held at Rustavi Prison Number Five. Her mother, Lyanne Kennedy, said Culley has now been transferred to a facility that accommodates mothers and their babies.

Ms Kennedy described improvements in her daughter’s conditions since the move. She said Culley now has two hours of outdoor time, access to a communal kitchen, a room with a shower and a proper toilet. She has been making eggy bread and cheese toasties and salt-and-pepper chicken for fellow inmates.

Culley is due to learn her sentence on Monday after negotiations with Georgian authorities. The family has paid more than £137,000 as part of a plea deal to seek a reduced sentence. Her lawyer, Malkhaz Salakaia, said he would appeal to the Georgian president for clemency once an agreement is reached. Reports said she described being tortured by gangsters in Thailand and being forced to transport the drugs into the country.