US forensic scientist asked to analyse unidentified blood sample by police in Chongqing where British man was found dead
A prominent American forensic scientist said that Chinese police asked him to analyse an unidentified blood sample, in a possible link to a spiralling political scandal surrounding the death of a British man.
Henry Lee said police did not directly ask for help investigating the death of Neil Heywood, whose body was found in the southwestern Chinese city of Chongqing. The wife of the city's Communist party chief has been named a suspect in Heywood's death.
Leehas worked on thousands of criminal cases around the world including the OJ Simpson murder case, war crimes in Bosnia and Croatia and a review of the assassination of US president John F Kennedy.
Lee said he was asked by Chongqing police in early February for help in testing a blood sample for drugs or poison. He was told it came from someone who died after drinking wine but was given no other details about the victim or cause of death. The sample never arrived.
Authorities in China initially said Heywood died from either excess drinking or a heart attack. His body was cremated without an autopsy. If blood or tissue samples were taken from Heywood's body, it would have a major impact on the case.
Lee, a fluent Chinese speaker, is a longtime professional acquaintance of Chongqing's former chief of police, Wang Lijun, who visited a US consulate near Chongqing on 6 February to raise concerns about Heywood's case.
After leaving the consulate, Wang was taken into custody by Chinese authorities and hasn't been heard from since. Lee said he wasn't sure of the name of the officer who approached him but it was not Wang.
Lee said DNA tests could confirm if the blood came from Heywood and tests on the blood might be able to determine a cause of death.
Heywood had close ties to Bo Xilai, a Chinese political high-flier whose career has been derailed by the death.
Bo was removed as Chongqing's Communist party secretary on 15 March and has been suspended as a Politburo member amid questions over whether he tried to abuse his power to quash an investigation of his wife and a household employee over Heywood's death.
Chinese authorities have opened a new investigation and named Bo's wife Gu Kailai a suspect in Heywood's death.
