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Bo Xilai scandal: Gu Kailai murder trial verdict due Suspended death sentence for Gu Kailai over Heywood murder
(about 6 hours later)
A court in China is due to deliver its verdict in the murder trial of the wife of former high-flying Chinese politician Bo Xilai. The wife of former Chinese politician Bo Xilai has been given a suspended death sentence for the murder of British businessman Neil Heywood.
Gu Kailai has admitted murdering UK businessman Neil Heywood in Hefe, Anhui province, state media reported. Gu Kailai was convicted of the November 2011 killing by a court in the Chinese city of Hefei. She did not contest the charges at her one-day trial on 9 August.
The BBC's Damian Grammaticas in Hefei says there is little doubt she will be found guilty but the court may spare her the death sentence. Ms Gu's aide, Zhang Xiaojun, was jailed for nine years.
Mr Heywood's death triggered China's biggest political scandal in years. Suspended death sentences are usually commuted to life imprisonment.
During the trial - which was not open to all - Ms Gu admitted that she poisoned Neil Heywood in a hotel room in the city of Chongqing last November, Chinese state media reported.
She claimed she had suffered a mental breakdown and that Mr Heywood had threatened her son and held him hostage in the UK after a property deal went sour.
State news agency Xinhua said she had apologised for what she described as the "tragedy" of Mr Heywood's death.
Our correspondent says that China's Communist Party hopes the trial will prevent any more damaging fallout from Mr Heywood's death and the embarrassing scandal it triggered.
Ms Gu was tried along with her aide, Zhang Xiaojun, who was described by the court as an accomplice.
Both were charged with intentional homicide and they did not contest the charges.
Bo Xilai was the Communist Party chief in Chongqing but was sacked in March and is currently under investigation for unspecified "disciplinary violations".
He has not been mentioned in his wife's case.
The verdict comes as China prepares to install a new generation of leaders at a once-in-a-decade congress to be held in the next two or three months.
Seven members of the nine-strong politburo Standing Committee are due to retire.
Bo Xilai was once thought to be a key candidate for promotion to the top leadership, but has not been seen in public since the investigation into his wife was announced.