SHANGHAI, Aug. 8 -- The foreign couple hired by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) China as private investigators were sentenced on Friday by a court in Shanghai for illegally obtaining private information on Chinese citizens.

Defendant Peter William Humphrey, 58, a British national, was sentenced to two and a half years in prison and fined 200,000 yuan (32,500 U.S. dollars). He will be expelled from China.

Defendant Yu Ying Zeng, 61, an American citizen and Humphrey's wife, was sentenced to two years in prison and fined 150,000 yuan.

The couple were arrested in August last year and indicted for illegal investigations, the first case of its kind involving foreigners in China.

The couple were hired by GSK China as private investigators in 2013.