BEIJING — Now that the murder trial of Gu Kailai has been completed, a far more detailed account has emerged from inside the courtroom of the case that prosecutors built against Ms. Gu, the wife of one of China’s most ambitious leaders, that shows how she plotted with her allies, including the local police chief, to protect her son from the blackmail demands of the British business associate she is believed to have killed.
Prosecutors presented evidence that the Briton, Neil Heywood, had demanded tens of millions of dollars from Ms. Gu’s son, locked him up in a residence in England and sent an e-mail threatening to “destroy” him. In response, Ms. Gu sought help from the local police chief, who refused to go along with her plan to get rid of Mr. Heywood and later secretly recorded her confession after she poisoned Mr. Heywood.
The tale gave a rare glimpse into the darkest corners of a Chinese ruling family. It told of a dramatic struggle between Ms. Gu; her Oxford- and Harvard-educated son, Bo Guagua, 24; and Mr. Heywood, 41, a longtime friend and business associate whose body was found in November in a hotel in Chongqing, the fog-wreathed western metropolis governed for more than four years by Ms. Gu’s husband, Bo Xilai, a Politburo member.
Ms. Gu and a family aide, Zhang Xiaojun, stood trial on Thursday in Hefei. No verdict was delivered, but a court official said the defendants did not object to the charges. The details of the court arguments that emerged Friday were not included in a terse statement issued the previous day by officials.
The detailed account of the trial was posted on Friday morning on renren.com, a social networking Web site, by Zhao Xiangcha, a university student in Anhui who said he had been inside the courtroom. He wrote it from memory after the seven-hour trial had adjourned. Virtually the entire account, which was deleted from his renren.com page around noon, was confirmed in telephone interviews with Li Xiaolin, a lawyer for Mr. Zhang, and another lawyer inside the courtroom.
Mr. Zhao wrote in his post that Ms. Gu, whose hands shook during the trial, confessed to murdering Mr. Heywood.
Bo Guagua declined to comment for this article. Mr. Heywood’s mother said before the trial that the case was a political show. Mr. Heywood’s wife, who is Chinese, could not be reached for comment. The accounts by people at the trial said the defense lawyers argued that the poison might not have been enough to kill Mr. Heywood, and that he probably died instead from drinking too much alcohol that night. They also said that Ms. Gu suffered from manic depression and mild schizophrenia and was not in full control of her actions.
According to the courtroom accounts, Mr. Heywood, a longtime resident of China, met Bo Guagua in England in around 2003. The two became close. Mr. Heywood hoped his relationship with the Bo family would help further his business ambitions in China.
Mr. Heywood was introduced to Xu Ming, a young billionaire and friend of the Bo family in the northeast city of Dalian, where Mr. Bo was mayor, and to a “princeling” executive at a state-owned enterprise surnamed Zhang. The businessmen later entered into real estate ventures that included a property deal in France and projects in Chongqing, where Mr. Bo became party chief in late 2007.
When the Chinese ventures failed because of political interference, Mr. Heywood last year demanded from Bo Guagua 14 million pounds, about $22 million, which was 10 percent of the money Mr. Heywood had expected to earn if the ventures had succeeded, Mr. Li said in the interview, citing the court account. He added that the prosecutors said Mr. Heywood sent threatening e-mails to the younger Mr. Bo — in one, Mr. Heywood wrote in English that he would “destroy” Mr. Bo.
The e-mails were projected on a screen during the trial. Mr. Heywood then locked Mr. Bo up in a residence in England, according to Mr. Zhao’s account of the prosecutors’ case. Mr. Bo called his mother and told her about the abduction.
Back in Chongqing, Ms. Gu asked Wang Lijun, the police chief, for help, but Mr. Wang said he could do nothing. It then occurred to Ms. Gu that she needed to get rid of Mr. Heywood to protect her son, whom she called “little rabbit” in e-mails, prosecutors said.
Ms. Gu, called “big rabbit” by her son, spoke with Mr. Wang about trying to frame Mr. Heywood as a drug dealer; on a visit to Chongqing, Mr. Heywood would then be shot dead by Mr. Wang during an attempted arrest. Mr. Wang helped in the plotting, but then refused to take part. Ms. Gu then came up with a new plan and obtained a poison used for dogs or rats. Seven people who helped her procure it were arrested after the scandal broke.
On Nov. 10, Zhang Xiaojun, 32, a retired soldier who was once a personal assistant to Ms. Gu’s father, an army general, flew to Beijing to invite Mr. Heywood to Chongqing. The prosecutors said Mr. Zhang was unaware of Ms. Gu’s intent to kill Mr. Heywood.
Ms. Gu told Mr. Wang, the police chief, about her scheme on the afternoon of Nov. 13. Then she had dinner with Mr. Heywood. After dinner, Ms. Gu asked a driver to buy a bottle of Royal Salute whisky. She prepared vials of the poison and handed them to Mr. Zhang. He now knew about the plan and was initially unwilling to take part but acquiesced because of his history with the Bo family, prosecutors said.
Around 11 p.m., they drove to the secluded Nanshan Lijing Resort, where Mr. Heywood was staying in Room 1605 of a villa. Ms. Gu went into the room alone and drank whisky with Mr. Heywood. He vomited and became woozy. Mr. Zhang came in and handed Ms. Gu the vials of poison. They put Mr. Heywood in bed. When he asked for water, Ms. Gu poured the poison into his mouth. She then spread drugs around the scene, prosecutors said. Ms. Gu and her associates left at 11:28 p.m.
The next day, Ms. Gu told Mr. Wang about the murder. He secretly recorded the conversation.
Hotel workers discovered Mr. Heywood’s body on Nov. 15. The police arrived, and Mr. Wang directed the investigation. To cover up Ms. Gu’s crime, he and several officers managed to take away blood samples and other evidence for about a day, presumably to tamper with it.
In January, however, Mr. Wang had a falling-out with the elder Mr. Bo, who then demoted him. Mr. Wang drove to the American Consulate in Chengdu on Feb. 6 and told diplomats there about the killing during an overnight stay. He left the next day, and Chinese security officials escorted him to Beijing. Prosecutors said he gave his secret recording to the authorities.
Mr. Wang remains in detention and is expected to go on trial soon. On Friday evening, a court official in Hefei announced that four senior police officers tried that day for aiding Ms. Gu — Guo Weiguo, Li Yang, Wang Pengfei and Wang Zhi — had confessed to helping cover up the murder.
Mr. Bo was dismissed as Chongqing party chief and suspended from the Politburo after Mr. Wang turned on him. He is being investigated for “serious disciplinary violations.” His name was barely mentioned at the trial.
Edward Wong reported from Beijing, and Andew Jacobs from Hefei, China. Patrick Zuo, Mia Li and Shi Da contributed research.
Prosecutors presented evidence that the Briton, Neil Heywood, had demanded tens of millions of dollars from Ms. Gu’s son, locked him up in a residence in England and sent an e-mail threatening to “destroy” him. In response, Ms. Gu sought help from the local police chief, who refused to go along with her plan to get rid of Mr. Heywood and later secretly recorded her confession after she poisoned Mr. Heywood.
The tale gave a rare glimpse into the darkest corners of a Chinese ruling family. It told of a dramatic struggle between Ms. Gu; her Oxford- and Harvard-educated son, Bo Guagua, 24; and Mr. Heywood, 41, a longtime friend and business associate whose body was found in November in a hotel in Chongqing, the fog-wreathed western metropolis governed for more than four years by Ms. Gu’s husband, Bo Xilai, a Politburo member.
Ms. Gu and a family aide, Zhang Xiaojun, stood trial on Thursday in Hefei. No verdict was delivered, but a court official said the defendants did not object to the charges. The details of the court arguments that emerged Friday were not included in a terse statement issued the previous day by officials.
The detailed account of the trial was posted on Friday morning on renren.com, a social networking Web site, by Zhao Xiangcha, a university student in Anhui who said he had been inside the courtroom. He wrote it from memory after the seven-hour trial had adjourned. Virtually the entire account, which was deleted from his renren.com page around noon, was confirmed in telephone interviews with Li Xiaolin, a lawyer for Mr. Zhang, and another lawyer inside the courtroom.
Mr. Zhao wrote in his post that Ms. Gu, whose hands shook during the trial, confessed to murdering Mr. Heywood.
Bo Guagua declined to comment for this article. Mr. Heywood’s mother said before the trial that the case was a political show. Mr. Heywood’s wife, who is Chinese, could not be reached for comment. The accounts by people at the trial said the defense lawyers argued that the poison might not have been enough to kill Mr. Heywood, and that he probably died instead from drinking too much alcohol that night. They also said that Ms. Gu suffered from manic depression and mild schizophrenia and was not in full control of her actions.
According to the courtroom accounts, Mr. Heywood, a longtime resident of China, met Bo Guagua in England in around 2003. The two became close. Mr. Heywood hoped his relationship with the Bo family would help further his business ambitions in China.
Mr. Heywood was introduced to Xu Ming, a young billionaire and friend of the Bo family in the northeast city of Dalian, where Mr. Bo was mayor, and to a “princeling” executive at a state-owned enterprise surnamed Zhang. The businessmen later entered into real estate ventures that included a property deal in France and projects in Chongqing, where Mr. Bo became party chief in late 2007.
When the Chinese ventures failed because of political interference, Mr. Heywood last year demanded from Bo Guagua 14 million pounds, about $22 million, which was 10 percent of the money Mr. Heywood had expected to earn if the ventures had succeeded, Mr. Li said in the interview, citing the court account. He added that the prosecutors said Mr. Heywood sent threatening e-mails to the younger Mr. Bo — in one, Mr. Heywood wrote in English that he would “destroy” Mr. Bo.
The e-mails were projected on a screen during the trial. Mr. Heywood then locked Mr. Bo up in a residence in England, according to Mr. Zhao’s account of the prosecutors’ case. Mr. Bo called his mother and told her about the abduction.
Back in Chongqing, Ms. Gu asked Wang Lijun, the police chief, for help, but Mr. Wang said he could do nothing. It then occurred to Ms. Gu that she needed to get rid of Mr. Heywood to protect her son, whom she called “little rabbit” in e-mails, prosecutors said.
Ms. Gu, called “big rabbit” by her son, spoke with Mr. Wang about trying to frame Mr. Heywood as a drug dealer; on a visit to Chongqing, Mr. Heywood would then be shot dead by Mr. Wang during an attempted arrest. Mr. Wang helped in the plotting, but then refused to take part. Ms. Gu then came up with a new plan and obtained a poison used for dogs or rats. Seven people who helped her procure it were arrested after the scandal broke.
On Nov. 10, Zhang Xiaojun, 32, a retired soldier who was once a personal assistant to Ms. Gu’s father, an army general, flew to Beijing to invite Mr. Heywood to Chongqing. The prosecutors said Mr. Zhang was unaware of Ms. Gu’s intent to kill Mr. Heywood.
Ms. Gu told Mr. Wang, the police chief, about her scheme on the afternoon of Nov. 13. Then she had dinner with Mr. Heywood. After dinner, Ms. Gu asked a driver to buy a bottle of Royal Salute whisky. She prepared vials of the poison and handed them to Mr. Zhang. He now knew about the plan and was initially unwilling to take part but acquiesced because of his history with the Bo family, prosecutors said.
Around 11 p.m., they drove to the secluded Nanshan Lijing Resort, where Mr. Heywood was staying in Room 1605 of a villa. Ms. Gu went into the room alone and drank whisky with Mr. Heywood. He vomited and became woozy. Mr. Zhang came in and handed Ms. Gu the vials of poison. They put Mr. Heywood in bed. When he asked for water, Ms. Gu poured the poison into his mouth. She then spread drugs around the scene, prosecutors said. Ms. Gu and her associates left at 11:28 p.m.
The next day, Ms. Gu told Mr. Wang about the murder. He secretly recorded the conversation.
Hotel workers discovered Mr. Heywood’s body on Nov. 15. The police arrived, and Mr. Wang directed the investigation. To cover up Ms. Gu’s crime, he and several officers managed to take away blood samples and other evidence for about a day, presumably to tamper with it.
In January, however, Mr. Wang had a falling-out with the elder Mr. Bo, who then demoted him. Mr. Wang drove to the American Consulate in Chengdu on Feb. 6 and told diplomats there about the killing during an overnight stay. He left the next day, and Chinese security officials escorted him to Beijing. Prosecutors said he gave his secret recording to the authorities.
Mr. Wang remains in detention and is expected to go on trial soon. On Friday evening, a court official in Hefei announced that four senior police officers tried that day for aiding Ms. Gu — Guo Weiguo, Li Yang, Wang Pengfei and Wang Zhi — had confessed to helping cover up the murder.
Mr. Bo was dismissed as Chongqing party chief and suspended from the Politburo after Mr. Wang turned on him. He is being investigated for “serious disciplinary violations.” His name was barely mentioned at the trial.
Edward Wong reported from Beijing, and Andew Jacobs from Hefei, China. Patrick Zuo, Mia Li and Shi Da contributed research.