Son visits investigator Peter Humphrey and his wife in detention

The only child of corporate investigators Peter Humphrey and Yu Yingzeng has been allowed to visit his parents in their detention centre in Pudong, Shanghai.

Harvey Humphrey, 19, told the that he visited his parents - who were arrested for conducting investigations for British drug giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) - last Friday afternoon.

Harvey said: "It's a bit unusual for the Chinese to do this. I feel something has changed in the Chinese approach to my parents.

"The Chinese authorities chose to be humane. This is a good sign in future for foreigners who might be arrested in China."

Peter Humphrey, a British national, and Yu, a China-born US citizen, will be tried at the Shanghai No 1 Intermediate People's Court on Friday. They are accused of illegally obtaining personal information of Chinese citizens.

This was the first visit by their son to the couple since they were detained in July last year.

Harvey, who is a student in the UK, said that a US consular official told him that this was the first time Chinese authorities had permitted a pretrial visit for relatives of foreigners in detention. However, an unnamed US lawyer said there had been other instances of detained foreigners receiving visitors.