British teenager Alan Connell narrowly escaped the...

British teenager Alan Connell narrowly escaped the death penalty in Thailand when a court commuted his sentence to life imprisonment for trafficking thousands of ecstasy pills. "The court decided to sentence the suspect to death but because he pleaded guilty the court reduced the sentence to life imprisonment," the Criminal Court said in its ruling. Connell, 19, from Manchester, was arrested at Bangkok's international airport on November 10, 2003 after arriving on a flight from England with 3,400 pills hidden in facial cream jars. The court said he initially denied the charges but later pleaded guilty.