Who murdered Neil Heywood? All the facts so far
WHO killed Neil Heywood back on November 14 2011 in the city of Chongqing, China? Maybe no-one did. Neil Heywood had had dealings with leading local politician Bo Xilai and his lawyer wife Go Kailai, aka Gu Kailai. He fell out with them.
Allegations are that Mr Bo and his family were engaged in shifting big bundles of money out of China.
The Mirror writes:
Chinese media further alleged Mr Heywood was murdered after helping Mrs Gu to siphon nearly £800million of assets overseas.
The Daily Telegraph notes:
The Mail on Sunday quoted ”respected Mandarin-language websites” saying Mr Heywood, 41, died from cyanide poisoning after allegedly having an affair with lawyer Gu Kailai, wife of Bo Xilai, seen until recently as a future leader of China.
Allegations are that Xia Deliang, a former Communist Party district leader in Chongqing, has confessed to supplying the poison to Mr Heywood’s killer.
Allegations are that Mr Heywood’s body had not been discovered for 36 hours.
Can we believe what we read on Chinese websites – where State sanctions say what and what cannot be seen, who can and cannot be named?
The US-=based website Boxun.com alleges that Mr Heywood’s wife Wang Lulu accepted that her husband had died of alcohol poisoning. Is cyanide routinely found in Chinese booze? It further claims she agreed that Mr Heywood be cremated without an autopsy. The claim is that Wang Lulu agreed to this in the presence of Go Kailai and three policemen.
Gu Kailai and her PA have been detained on suspicion of murder. Bo Xilai, has been stripped of his positions at the top of the ruling communist party.
Why is the only now a big story?
At Mr Heywood’s cremation, among the crowd were a British diplomat and two Chinese policemen.
The BBC adds:
A commentary piece published by the state-run Xinhua news agency on Sunday said the death is being handled normally and should be treated without “fuss, not to mention excessive interpretation or bias”.
“It has nothing to do with a so-called ‘political struggle’,” it went on
Gu Kailai and Bo Xilai have a son:
At the age of 12, Bo Guagua was sent by his parents to Papplewick prep school, near Ascot, and then on to Harrow – where the fees are £10,000 a term. The school had been 41-year-old Mr Heywood’s alma mater, and he told friends he had helped the boy secure his place there.
In 2006, by which time his father had risen to become China’s commerce minister, Bo Guagua went to Oxford University to study philosophy, politics and economics at Balliol College.
The Guardian adds:
When people questioned how Bo and Gu paid for their son’s expensive education at two private schools in England – Papplewick and Harrow – and at Oxford University, Bo said he won full scholarships.
And:
Heywood’s widow Wang Lulu, a Chinese citizen, has not commented publicly on the case. “Police officers questioned her recently and warned her not to speak to foreign media,” a source with direct knowledge of the case, who wished to remain anonymous, told Reuters.
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.” There were UK media reports that Wang had visited the British embassy to ask for a visa so she and her two children could escape from China.
Such are the facts…
Posted: 15th, April 2012 | In: Reviews Comments (5) | TrackBack | Permalink
