A former school headmaster and a former police chief in Xinhuang Dong autonomous county, Hunan province, were sentenced to 15 years in prison for bending the law to shelter a killer 16 years ago.

Another seven police officers and a school staff member who were involved in the investigation were sentenced to jail terms ranging from seven to 14 years for bending the law and dereliction of duty.

Yang Jun, a former political commissar of the county's public security bureau, and Huang Bingsong, a former headmaster of Xinhuang No 1 Middle School, had provided shelter for Du Shaoping, Huang's nephew, a court in Jingzhou Miao and Dong autonomous county said on Monday.

According to a statement from the court, Du was contracted to build a sports ground for the school in December 2001 and hired Luo Guangzhong to take charge of the project.

During construction work, Du became angry after being questioned by Deng Shiping, who had been entrusted by the school with ensuring the project's construction quality, the court said.

On Jan 22, 2003, Du and Luo killed Deng in an office on the construction site.

The pair buried Deng in a pit in the playground that night, and the next day, Luo ordered workers to fill the pit up.

To cover up the crime, Du and Huang asked Yang to interfere in the investigation of the case, which resulted in Deng being listed as a missing person.

Du was detained during a crackdown on a local crime gang in April and confessed to killing Deng.

On June 19, police dug up bones buried on the campus that were identified as Deng's after a DNA test.

On Dec 18, Du was sentenced to death by the Huaihua Intermediate People's Court in Hunan for multiple crimes, including intentional homicide. Luo, who helped Du with the killing, was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve for intentional homicide.