CHENGDU, China (Reuters) - The former police chief at the heart of China's biggest political uproar in decades, Wang Lijun, did not contest charges against him at his court hearing on Tuesday, an official said.

Wang fled to a U.S. consulate in Chengdu for more than 24 hours in February, days after his dismissal as police chief of Chongqing, the nearby municipality then run by ambitious politician Bo Xilai, who had raised Wang to prominence as a crime gang-buster.

State media has said his crimes include defection, illegal surveillance and taking bribes, and has indicated that Wang had initially gone along with the attempted cover-up of the murder in November of British businessman, Neil Heywood, by Bo's wife, Gu Kailai.

(Editing by Jeremy Laurence)