London, Aug 10 (IANS) Four Chinese policemen have admitted covering up the murder of Briton Neil Heywood, a day after the wife of a former top politician was tried for the killing, BBC reported Friday.
Heywood was found dead in Chongqing city in November 2011.
A court official told reporters that the senior police officers had hidden evidence linking Gu Kailai, wife of Chongqing’s ex-leader Bo Xilai, to the case.
Gu was charged with the murder of Heywood in a one-day trial Thursday.
She did not contest the charges, according to a court official.
The dates for the verdicts in both trials are yet to be announced, the BBC said.
The police officers were charged with covering up Gu’s actions and “bending the law to achieve personal benefit”, Tang Yigan, an official with the Hefei Intermediate Court in eastern China, told reporters.
Heywood’s death was initially recorded as a heart attack. But the case was reopened after Chongqing’s top security official – police chief Wang Lijun – fled to the US consulate in Chengdu, reportedly with information that the Briton had been murdered.
Two British diplomats were allowed to witness the trial but no foreign journalists were allowed in, according to BBC.
