Chinese police gag widow of Briton in murder scandal

The Chinese widow of a British businessman thought to have been murdered in a case that has rocked China's political establishment has been gagged by local police, a source with direct knowledge of the matter said.

Neil Heywood, 41, was found dead in his hotel room in China's southwestern city of Chongqing last November. 

The family initially did not suspect foul play. But in a stunning twist, state media announced that Gu Kailai, wife of Chongqing's disgraced Communist Party boss Bo Xilai, and a household assistant were “highly suspected” of killing Heywood and have been detained. 

Heywood’s widow, Wang Lulu who lives with her two children in a gated community of expensive villas on the outskirts of Beijing, has not commented publicly about the case. State media cited a dispute over unspecified “economic interests” between Gu and Heywood.

“Police officers questioned her recently and warned her not to speak to foreign media,” the source with direct knowledge of the case said requesting anonymity. He declined to speculate why police gagged her. Chinese authorities customarily warn families of jailed dissidents and crime suspects not to talk to the media.

Asked what Lulu’s views were after the revelation implicating Gu in the scandal, another source close to the family said: “It’s still difficult to believe. It was absolutely not necessary. The two families were very close. She (Gu) was the godmother of (Heywood’s) children.”

Heywood’s 11-year-old daughter and seven-year-old son attend an international school in Beijing.

The scandal is potentially the most divisive the Party has faced since Zhao Ziyang was sacked as Party chief in 1989 for opposing the brutal army crackdown on student-led demonstrations for democracy centered on Tiananmen Square in Beijing in 1989.