Heywood was spying on Bo Xilai for MI6, says Wall Street Journal
Businessman shared details of Bo's family before he was murdered, says Wall Street Journal
A British businessman murdered by the wife of Bo Xilai had informed on the couple for over a year to his country's spy agency, The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday.
Neil Heywood shared details based on his close access to the powerful couple, the paper said, citing his friends and current and former British officials.
The revelation that Heywood was murdered brought down power politician Bo and revealed rifts among top leaders as they negotiated a once-a-decade power handover set to take place this week.
"He had been knowingly providing information about the Bo family to Britain's Secret Intelligence Service, known as MI6, for more than a year," the report said.
It said Heywood became close to the family in the 1990s when Bo was mayor of the northeastern city of Dalian. He was found dead last November in Chongqing municipality, which Bo ran at the time.
Heywood drove a silver Jaguar with the licence plate "007", the Journal said.