A Chinese court has given a suspended death sentence to the wife of disgraced former Communist Party leader Bo Xilai for the murder of a British businessman.

The Intermediate People's Court in Hefei on Monday sentenced Gu Kailai to death, suspended for two years, after she confessed on August 9 to poisoning Neil Heywood after a business deal went bad. The suspension means the death penalty will probably be commuted to life imprisonment if she commits no offenses in the next two years.

A family employee who assisted in the murder received a 9-year sentence.

Gu confessed to luring Heywood – her business partner at the time – to a hotel in the southwestern city of Chongqing last November, getting him drunk and poisoning him.

Gu's husband, Bo Xilai, was a rising star in the Communist Party, but was removed as Chongqing party chief amid the scandal.