Bo Xilai's wife Gu Kailai arrested for Neil Heywood's murder A motive for killing Heywood was not spelt out, but Xinhua said that Mrs Gu, her husband, and their son, Bo Guagua, had been on "good terms" with Heywood but that a "conflict over economic interests" had arisen. The statement also said that the crime had been brought to light by Wang Lijun, the former police chief in the city. Mr Wang fled from Chongqing to the US Consulate in neighbouring Chengdu earlier this year, apparently in fear for his safety. While inside the US consulate, he accused Mrs Gu of poisoning Heywood, prompting the Foreign Office to urge the Chinese authorities to reopen the case. According to the New York Times, Mr Wang provided American diplomats with "a technical police file" on Heywood's death, as well as divulging a "trove of knowledge on the contest for power among the Chinese leadership." At the time of his death, Heywood's family was told there would be no investigation or autopsy and that he had died of a heart attack. His father, Peter, also died of heart disease aged 63. The British Embassy, however, was told he had died of excessive alcohol consumption, a detail that puzzled his friends, who said he rarely drank. Mr Heywood, whose consultancy business helped to introduce Western companies to China, had become friends with Mr Bo and his wife in the 1990s, when Mr Bo was the mayor of Dalian. Some sources claim that, as an Old Harrovian, he helped ease Bo Guagua into Harrow. However, Tom Reed, who dined with Heywood in Beijing a few days before his death, said he had never discussed his relationship with Mrs Gu. Mr Reed said that at the time of his death, Heywood had not been in touch with the Bo family for at least a year. A second source, who knew Mr Heywood from his time in Dalian, said that he thought his relationship with the Bo family had "cooled" since Mr Bo took over in Chongqing in 2007. According to the Wall Street Journal, however, Mrs Gu had become "increasingly neurotic" after being investigated for corruption in 2007 and had at one point demanded that Mr Heywood, as a member of her inner circle, divorce his wife and swear an oath of loyalty. Mr Heywood refused. Like Mr Bo, whose father was one of the founders of the Chinese Communist party, Mrs Gu was part of the party's aristocracy. Her father was Gu Jingsheng, a renowned general. The couple both attended Peking university, where she studied law and international politics. In her early career, Mrs Gu was one of China's most famous lawyers, even appearing as the subject of a patriotic television film. And while Mr Bo suggested earlier this year that "she now basically just stays at home, doing some housework," she is believed to still have had control of her law firm, first named Kailai and then renamed Ang Dao. Companies wishing to do business in Chongqing were well advised to retain her firm's services. She is also reported to have taken the English name Horus L Kai, at one point to have been the director of a company registered in Dorset. Li Zhuang, a lawyer in Chongqing who was imprisoned during the crackdown on the mafia, said Mr Bo had often boasted of being "above the law" but that the investigation would be a test case to show that "everyone who commits crimes should be punished." William Hague, the Foreign secretary, said he had taken a "personal interest" in Heywood's case. "We look forward to hearing the outcome of those investigations," he said.