Gu confesses to Heywood murder, says state media

The Chinese woman accused of murdering British businessman Neil Heywood admitted guilt and blamed a mental breakdown for the …

The Chinese woman accused of murdering British businessman Neil Heywood admitted guilt and blamed a mental breakdown for the events that brought her to trial and toppled her once-powerful politician husband, Bo Xilai, state media said yesterday.

The first extended public comments on the case from Mr Bo’s wife, Gu Kailai, appeared in a Xinhua news agency account which said she and a household aide, Zhang Xiaojun, had “confessed to intentional homicide” in poisoning Mr Heywood in November.

The state media account of Ms Gu’s testimony repeated her argument that she turned on Mr Heywood, a family friend who had helped her son Bo Guagua with his schooling in England, only after she decided he was a threat to her son. “During those days last November, I suffered a mental breakdown after learning that my son was in jeopardy,” she said. – (Reuters)