Disgraced ex-footy WAG Arabella Del Busso has been photographed for the first time outside prison days after she walked free as she prepares to do a new podcast deal.
Del Busso was spotted with hulking ex-British enforcer Neil ‘The Muscle’ Cummins who has a podcast Secrets of the Underworld which has featured ‘Cocaine Cassie’ Sainsbury and former sex worker Kim Hollingsworth.
Del Busso, who is most infamous for faking pregnancies to ex-NRL star Josh Reynolds, could be seen smiling and hugging the 122kg, 6 foot 4 bodybuilder on a Melbourne street.
Dressed in an Aje Athletica top and ripped jeans exposing her heavily tattooed thighs and carrying a Goyard tote worth $2159, the ex-lingerie model seemed to revel in the sunshine after serving time behind bars.
The 34-year-old fled south across the NSW border early last Friday for Victoria, where she is living with her equally heavily-inked builder lover, James Warwick.
Just an ordinary thief rather than an underworld figure, Del Busso is expected to speak on Cummins’ podcast about her supposed degrading and terrifying experiences behind bars.
While at Dillwynia women’s correctional centre in Sydney’s far west, Del Busso made claims of threats with a jail-made knife or ‘shiv’, invasive strip searches, and humiliating shower and toilet experiences.
Disgraced ex-footy WAG Arabella Del Busso has been photographed for the first time outside prison days after she walked free after serving time for theft
Del Busso was spotted with hulking ex-British enforcer Neil Cummins, who has a podcast Secrets of the Underworld, which has previously featured ‘Cocaine Cassie’ Sainsbury and former sex worker Kim Hollingsworth
The prison’s female governor went to the unusual lengths of issuing a statement about her, saying ‘the inmate’s claims … are not factual’.
Del Busso – who is known to have used 11 aliases including Bella Donna Di Donato and her real name, Donna Preusker – is out of jail scot free with no parole restrictions hanging over her head.
She has finished serving just five months in prison for stealing money from her employer when she worked as a receptionist.
The wannabe celebrity boxer was jailed for stealing $52,350 from a small Sydney medical practice between September 2019 and February 2020.
While working as a receptionist for Rheumatology Specialist Care, she devised a scheme to steal tens of thousands of dollars from their practices in Kogarah and Randwick in Sydney’s south.
In April, after Del Busso pleaded for a reduction to her maximum 20-month prison sentence, NSW District Court judge John Pickering decided it was impractical to impose community-based orders if she was leaving the state.
Del Busso hugs Neil Cummins who plans to feature her on his podcast, Secrets of the Underworld, and Del Busso (right) in typical images on social media which she has now sworn to stay away from
Dressed in an Aje Athletica top and ripped jeans exposing her heavily tattooed thighs and carrying a Goyard tote worth $2159, the ex-lingerie model (above with her arm on the podcaster) seemed to revel in the sunshine after time behind bars
However, Del Busso’s tearful pleas that she had been punished enough because of wide and critical coverage of her in the media drew a strong rebuke.
After faking pregnancy twice to Reynolds, she did a paid 60 Minutes interview about them and then went on SAS Australia as a contestant, before fleeing the TV show in tears when she was grilled about lying.
At the April NSW District Court hearing to appeal the severity of her 20 month prison sentence, Judge Pickering unleashed on Del Busso’s barrister Jehane Ghabrial when she tried to claim ‘extracurial punishment’ or trial by media as a mitigating factor.
‘Being real about it, she’s pursued it. She put herself on a reality program. She put herself on national television,’ Judge Pickering said.
‘No-one forced her to go on SAS.’
When Ms Ghabrial replied: ‘Just because somebody goes on national television doesn’t mean they are inviting [people] to tear their life apart … it’s like having a wound continually open,’ Judge Pickering disagreed.
‘That’s debatable,’ he said. ‘Isn’t that exactly what you you seek? In a case that’s dominating the media at the moment, in the case of Mr [Bruce] Lehrmann, that’s exactly what you get.
‘SAS… It’s the kind of show which people to seek to increase their profile. She has also sought to exploit it for her own profile.’
Del Busso has a new boyfriend who has vowed to support her after she is finishes her sentence
Ms Ghabrial said: ‘It’s a matter that had nothing to do with Josh Reynolds. The media… keep dredging that up… the reporting is excessive about that.’
Again, Judge Pickering disagreed: ‘The reality is these are dishonesty offences and there are aspects of that history which are dishonest.’
Judge Pickering also referred to Del Busso’s social media pages. On them, the ex-prisoner had posted scores of images of her wearing skimpy lingerie and showing off her extensive tattoos.
She has now sworn off social media, with her new partner’s support.
Ms Del Busso’s boyfriend Mr Warwick issued a statement to the court describing his lover as ‘kind, supportive, loving’.
The builder, who is in his mid-30s, said in an affidavit: ‘I feel people don’t know the real Arabella Del Busso‘.
‘The Bella that I have grown to love is the most caring, genuine, down to earth, selfless person I have met from a relationship perspective.’
The Secrets of the Underworld podcast is available on Apple and describes itself as ‘not for the faint at heart, an insightful and real look into the Sydney Underworld and the real Kings Cross between 1998 – 2013’.
Neil Cummins left his ‘gangster’ life behind after being sentenced over ‘demand with menace’, and intimidation offences but avoiding jail in 2019.