The UK Government has been urged to intervene in the...

The UK Government has been urged to intervene in the case of a Briton facing a possible death penalty in Thailand for smuggling drugs.
Julian Gilbey, 35, from Rothesay in Scotland, was found to be carrying 4kg of pure heroin when he flew into Bangkok airport last October. He is due to appear in court on Thursday and faces the death penalty if found guilty.
Alan Reid, Liberal Democrat MP for Argyll and Bute, said he had written to the Foreign Office asking officials to step in.
"There is a defence witness who is unwilling to travel to Thailand for the trial, so I have written to the Thai embassy asking if there is any way his evidence can be presented. I haven't seen all the evidence, but what his family have told me is that he thought he was smuggling diamonds and was surprised to find that it turned out to be drugs.
"I would hope that the court accepts that it wasn't deliberate drug smuggling and agrees to commute the sentence."
Mr Reid pointed out that other Britons convicted of drug-smuggling in Thailand had been given long jail sentences rather than executed. "The precedent appears to be that if he is found guilty the death penalty it is likely to be automatic, but the Foreign Office has assured me that if that does happen they will make strong representations that it should not be carried out," he said.