A Chinese court has sentenced a policeman to death over the killing of a pregnant woman in the southern region of Guangxi.

Officer Hu Ping was found guilty of murder by the Guigang Intermediate People's Court and ordered to pay the victim's family 73,324 yuan (£7,200) in compensation, Xinhua news agency has reported.

Ping was allegedly drunk and bare-chested when he entered a rice-noodle store in the town of Pingnan in October last year, demanding milk tea.

It was when the couple who ran the shop said they didn't serve milk tea that the 33-year-old policeman opened fire.

Wu Ying and her unborn child were shot dead; her husband Cai Shiyong suffered a shoulder injury but survived.

Before the shooting, the policeman had been drinking with colleagues nearby, the court heard.

Ping pleaded guilty to the charges but, according to some local reports, is planning to appeal against the sentence.

This was the last in a series of cases involving violence or abuse of power by Chinese officials that has outraged the Chinese public.

Ahead of the sentencing many netizens writing on China's microblogging website Sina Weibo called for a stiff sentence.

"Death would not be a sufficient punishment for his crime," one user wrote, according to Agence France-Presse.

In December 2013, four security officials were jailed over the killing of a fruit vendor during an altercation in Linwu County, Chenzhou.

China