SHANGHAI (Reuters) - British corporate investigator Peter Humphrey was sentenced to 2 years and 6 months in prison for illegally obtaining records on Chinese citizens, while his American wife was handed a two-year jail sentence, a court in Shanghai said on Friday.

Briton Peter Humphrey and his wife Yu Yingzeng ran risk consultancy ChinaWhys, whose clients included British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline Plc, which is at the centre of a separate corruption probe.

According to a statement read out by a court official at a press conference, Humphrey will be deported, but it gave no further details on that aspect of the judgment, including on whether Yu would also be deported.

The couple has the right to appeal their sentence within 10 days, the court added.

The trial was being closely watched for any comments on the British drugmaker, but there was no mention of GSK, even though prosecutors brought up investigations launched by other foreign firms.