Arabella Del Busso is served a brutal reality check by a judge as WAG makes extraordinary complaint about life as a TV star after being jailed

A judge has let go of former reality TV contestant and ex-soccer player Arabella Del Busso after she pleaded to an early release from prison due to “brutal” media attention.

The 33-year-old lingerie model appeared in court via video link from a women’s prison in Sydney’s west on Wednesday and watched as her lawyer argued she was being unfairly targeted by the media.

Del Busso – who only gained a media profile after lying to her ex-boyfriend, rugby league star Josh Reynolds, about her pregnancy – appealed the severity of her 20-month prison sentence for stealing $52,000 from her employer .

The former SAS Australia contestant watched in jail as her lawyer, Jehane Ghabrial, complained that Del Busso had been the subject of “public humiliation” by the media and argued for a suppression order.

But Judge John Pickering of the NSW District Court was having none of it, replying: ‘Because she is real about it, she has pursued it. She put herself on a reality show. She put herself on national television.

“No one forced her to join SAS.”

In a lively conversation, with Del Busso blinking rapidly as she listened in, Ms. Ghabrial responded: “Just because someone goes on national television doesn’t mean they’re inviting (people) to tear their lives apart… it’s like they having a wound open all the time.’

Judge Pickering disagreed. “That’s debatable,” he said. ‘Isn’t that exactly what you’re looking for?

“In a case that is currently dominating the media, in the case of Mr. (Bruce) Lehrmann, that is exactly what you get.

‘SAS… It’s the kind of show people should look for to raise their profile. She also tried to exploit it for her own profile.”

Ms Ghabrial said: ‘It’s an issue that has nothing to do with Josh Reynolds. The media … continue to dredge that up … the reporting about it is exaggerated.

Judge Pickering: ‘When you appear in criminal court, aspects of your character are assessed.

“The reality is that these are unfair offenses and there are aspects of that history that are unfair.

‘We live in an Instagram, Twitter and TikTok world. Some people are private, some are public, some want to continue (working on) their profile.”

His Honor will rule on Wednesday afternoon on whether Del Busso should receive a reduced sentence of at least twelve months.

Her lawyers are calling for a correction order that would see Del Busso released from prison and serve her sentence in the community.

The court heard that upon admission to prison, corrections authorities immediately placed her in a protection area, classifying her as a ‘SMAP’, meaning she has been placed in a special management area.

This classification is intended for inmates whose profile could attract unwanted attention or even attacks from other inmates.

Her lawyer argued that this was an additional problem of being in prison, as the SMAP prisoners could only enter the main prison grounds during their lunch break.

Daily Mail Australia has also learned the glamorous ex-WAG is leading prison fitness workouts with other women while locked up at the 531-inmate Dillwynia Correctional Center in Sydney’s northwest.

Del Busso was jailed on February 13 for stealing $52,000 from Rheumotology Specialist Care, where she worked as a receptionist at practices in Kogarah, in Sydney’s south, and Randwick, in the city’s east.

She pleaded guilty to two counts of theft as an employee between September 2019 and February 2020.

Magistrate Hugh Donnelly sentenced Del Busso to minimum 12 months behind bars for what he described as a ‘terrible breach of trust’.

After spending a few nights at the Silverwater Women’s Correctional Center in Sydney’s west, she was ordered to serve her time in Dillwynia and was transferred by prison van to the facility 56km outside Sydney.

Del Busso’s lawyer Andrew Stewart told Daily Mail Australia that Del Busso was hoping for a reduced sentence because she was remorseful and “trying to turn her life around.”

”It is not pleasant for anyone to be in prison. She is trying to get as much support as she can,” he said.

Del Busso has adjusted to life in prison, including spending about 17 hours a day in her three-by-five-foot cell, serving prison meals on an aluminum foil tray and interacting with inmates serving time for violent crimes.

However, it is clear that Del Busso uses her expertise and fitness knowledge to keep herself fit and show the other inmates workout routines.

“She does what she can to help other inmates,” Stewart said.

‘Staying fit, helping inmates who have some problems, making sure you eat, making sure you shower.

“She has expressed her remorse and has repaid what she had to pay (approximately $30,000) from the money she had saved and set aside and from boxing prize money.”

Upon her arrival at Dillwynia, the only women’s facility clustered with two men’s prisons at the Francis Greenway Correctional Complex, Del Busso was given a package containing a toothbrush and toothpaste, soap, a plate, bowl and cup, and a roll of toilet paper.

Anything other than prison clothing is considered contraband.

While prisoners were once searched upon arrival, this now usually only happens if a prison X-ray scanner identifies contraband hidden on an imate’s person.

Del Busso was taken to her cell, which has only a thin, vinyl-covered mattress, and was given a meal prepared at the adjacent men’s prison, the Geoffrey Pearce Correctional Center.

Her meals consisted of pre-packed salads with cold meat and hot meals of crumbled fish, chicken wings and chicken schnitzel, which they ate with plastic cutlery.

Under the NSW prison system’s so-called Bangkok Rules, Del Busso is encouraged to stay in touch with family members or friends through weekly visits and phone calls via landlines in the prison’s common areas.

In addition, female prisoners have access to a tablet every day during the afternoon lock-in and are allowed to make outgoing calls from these devices until 10 p.m.

Under what are known as the Mandela Rules, Del Busso has also had access to consultations with her legal advisers.

Mr Stewart said Del Busso was looking for “a return to normality, back to work and her boxing career” after her release from prison.

‘She’s definitely nervous (about her attraction), but she’s had time to think. She’s sorry.’

The one-time glamor model shot to fame after her relationship with then-Canterbury Bankstown Bulldogs NRL star Josh Reynolds dissolved when it was revealed she had faked a pregnancy.

In October 2020, she famously left TV reality show SAS Australia after being questioned about the relationship drama that spilled into the public eye.