Wife of Bo Xilai suspect over 'murder' of Briton
Bo Xilai, 62, had been tipped for a top job in China's ruling Communist Party
The wife of a disgraced Chinese politician once tipped as a future leader has been detained over the suspected murder of a British national.
Gu Kailai has been "transferred to the judicial authorities" as part of an investigation into the death of Neil Heywood, state news agency Xinhua said.
Her husband Bo Xilai, former mayor of Chongqing, has been stripped of key posts in the ruling Communist Party.
He had been one of China's most popular politicians.
But he suffered a spectacular fall from grace last month when he was sacked as party chief in Chongqing.
This came after his police chief Wang Lijun spent a day holed up in the US consulate in Chengdu.
It was rumoured that Mr Wang had been attempting to defect.
The suggestion was that he had been demoted by an angry Mr Bo after the officer had alerted him to the fact that the mayor's family was the subject of a police investigation linked to Mr Heywood's death.
'Good friend'Mr Bo has been dismissed from the Communist Party's hugely powerful 25-member Politburo, and the 300-member Central Committee due to suspected "serious discipline violations", Xinhua reported on Tuesday.
Gu Kailai "has been transferred to judicial authorities on suspected crime of intentional homicide" of British business consultant Neil Heywood, the agency also said.
Analysis
It is difficult to know which piece of news is more startling - Bo Xilai's fall from grace or his wife's suspected involvement in murder.
Mr Bo was until recently tipped for promotion when China begins its once-in-a-decade leadership change later this year.
But he has now been suspended from the politburo, the 25-member body at the top of the Chinese Communist Party.
It suggests a real fight to gain control of the party at a time when China's top leaders would have wanted to put on a united front, to show power can be handed over smoothly in China.
Mr Bo's suspension has been rumoured ever since he was sacked as chief of the city of Chongqing.
But the confirmation is still big news.
That story, though, was possibly overshadowed by the downfall of Mr Bo's wife.
Once feted as a great lawyer, she is now on the wrong side of the law.
Her suspected involvement in the alleged murder of British businessman Neil Heywood adds another layer to this already murky tale.
And with only scant details about this affair in the public domain, there will probably be more revelations to come.
Mr Heywood - a close friend of Mr Bo - died in Chongqing last November. It was claimed at the time that the 41-year-old died of over-use of alcohol but his friends said he did not drink that much.
Rumours continued to swirl about the friendship between the two men.
A reinvestigation of his death had found that both Bo's wife and son "were on good terms with Heywood.. however, they had conflict over economic interests, which had been intensified," Xinhua said.
"According to reinvestigation results, the existing evidence indicated that Heywood died of homicide, of which [Gu Kailai] and Zhang Xiaojun, an orderly at Bo's home, are highly suspected," the agency added.
News of the reinvestigation was welcomed by UK Foreign Secretary William Hague, who had recently called on the Chinese authorities to look again at Mr Heywood's death.
"The Chinese are doing as we asked them to do and we now look forward to seeing those investigations take place and in due course hearing the outcome of those investigations," he said.
The BBC's China correspondent Martin Patience describes the developments as the biggest scandal to hit China in many years.
Mr Bo, who made his name taking on corruption in Chongqing, had been expected to be elected to the Politburo's standing committee later this year - as the party prepares for a once-in-a-decade change of leadership.
The nine-man standing committee effectively rules the country.
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