China Death: Heywood Trial May Be 'Imminent'

The return to China of a French witness in the death case of British businessman Neil Heywood is being seen as a sign that a trial may be imminent.

Neil Heywood was found dead in his hotel room in the city of Chongqing in central China last November.  At first the Chinese authorities said he had died from excess drinking or a heart attack.

But the case turned into a political storm for China's ruling Communist Party after Gu Kailai, the wife of one of China's most prominent politicians Bo Xilai, was named as a murder suspect.

There has been no official word over what will happen next in the case but it is widely believed there may be an announcement of a trial involving Gu Kailai in the next few weeks.

China asked police in Cambodia to detain French businessman Patrick Devillers in June.  It is thought he has connections to Mr Heywood, Gu Kailai and her estranged husband Bo Xilai.

It has emerged Patrick Devillers was released from Cambodian custody on Monday and the authorities in Pnom Penh say he then took a flight to Shanghai in eastern China.

Cambodian police say he went of his "own will". It is claimed he was promised immunity from prosecution in return for co-operating with investigators.

Bo Xilai was sacked as Communist Party Chief in Chongqing in March and then as a member of the 25-member Politburo, the most powerful decision-making body in Chinese politics.

It followed the revelation that the former police chief of Chongqing, Wang Lijun, had made a dramatic visit to the US consulate in Chengdu, a Chinese city in Sichuan province.

It's understood Mr Wang claimed he had information linking Gu Kailai and an orderly who worked for her with the death of Mr Heywood.

Even though the British businessman had been buried without a post mortem soon after his death, the Chinese authorities announced that Bo Xilai's wife was a suspect in the case.

Gu Kailai was then arrested and is believed to be being held somewhere in Beijing or on the coast near to Beijing.

It is thought the Chinese authorities want to deal with the matter rather than have it hanging over them ahead of the once-a-decade Communist Party Conference due to be held in October.

At that conference the Chinese will announce a change in leadership and a new make-up of the Politburo.