The daughter who won an inheritance fight against a “stepmother” who is more than a decade her junior said she hopes the case can be a warning to others.
Wealthy pensioner Robert Harrington died aged 94 in May 2020, just 11 months after marrying ex-lawyer Guixiang Qin, 54, who had moved to his home in King’s Lynn, Norfolk, from China.
Mrs Qin inherited her billionaire husband’s fortune under his last will, written just two months before he died, sparking a legal battle with her disinherited daughter, Jill Langley.
Mrs Langley, 70, of Downham Market, claimed her father’s widow had lured him into a “predatory” marriage and “drowned him into the cheapest possible grave” once she had “got all his money”.
Following a trial at Central London County Court earlier this year, the will was declared invalid. Engraver Robert McAllister discovered that Ms. Qin had exerted undue influence and control over Harrington, who was deemed “mentally incapacitated” when his last will and testament was made.
And today Mrs Qin, who was accused of dumping her millionaire husband in a pauper’s grave after inheriting his fortune, was stripped of the right to manage his estate and branded “unfit” by a judge.
Jill Langley, 70, found out her 94-year-old father was remarrying when a handwritten note arrived through the letterbox one morning in early March 2020.
Chinese lawyer Guixiang Qin, 54, married Robert Harrington, 94, just 11 months before his death. She inherited everything from him under a will written two months before he died
Robert Harrington, 94, was in poor physical shape, couldn’t stand a photo on his wedding day and couldn’t even pronounce his new bride’s name, a court heard.
Mrs Langley, who was Mr Harrington’s only child, learned of her father’s death when she saw a small cross at the local crematorium while attending the funeral of another relative.
Speaking to MailOnline in April, Mrs Langley said: ‘It was never about the money, it was about the principle.
“My mother and I had been working with my father in his butcher shop for years and I didn’t want to see a stranger walk away with all his property.
“I hope this case is a landmark and a warning to others. There is no way this 54-year-old woman would be interested in marrying my father when he was 93 if he didn’t have money.”
Chinese-born Mrs Qin said she met the “lovely” retired butcher after seeing an ad in a local newspaper in late 2018 “offering free food and drink at Christmas” and the unlikely pair fell in love.
But his death sparked a bitter court battle over his final will, written just two months before he died, disinheriting his daughter Mrs Langley and leaving everything to his new bride.
Mr Harrington’s daughter, Jill Langley, successfully argued that Ms Qin had exercised undue influence and control over her father and his finances, and his last will and testament was set aside.
Ms Langley said that after her mother Eileen’s death in January 2018, relations with her father grew sporadic, partly due to his delusional mental state.
Shortly after the funeral, he received an explosive letter saying: “This letter will be the last contact I attempt to make.”
She recalled: “He wasn’t getting enough blood to his brain and he was accusing me of stealing his photo album, which actually referred to a collage of photos in a frame that I put in my mum’s care home and have brought back after die as a memory
“I only heard about my father’s wedding at the registry office with Qin in a scribbled note: the builder was called as a witness.
“We tried to get in touch with him, but the phone was never answered and there were all kinds of security cameras and gates on the property, and no one answered when we called.
“I only found out about his death by accident. I was at King’s Lynn Crematorium for another funeral and I visited my mother’s grave and on the way to it I noticed a small wooden cross with my father’s name on it.
Ms Langley believed her father Robert Harrington (pictured in 1984) was the victim of a “predatory marriage”, in which a wealthy widow or widower is targeted solely for his money.
“That was two months later, and it was devastating. Qin told the court he left a phone message to tell me about the funeral, but we never received one.
“I don’t think she meant to tell me anything until she passed the test.”
Now, after a new hearing, another judge has ordered Ms. Qin removed as joint administrator of Mr. Harrington’s estate in favor of her daughter.
James McKean, for Ms Langley, urged the judge at the High Court in London to “pass” Ms Qin as the court had found she was not “a suitable person to act as personal representative of the estate”.
And after a short hearing during which Ms Qin represented herself, Master Julia Clark ruled against the widow, saying the will had been “obtained by undue influence and also that Mr Harrington lacked capacity to do so”.
He added that the facts found in the trial “would clearly lead to the conclusion that Mrs. Qin … is not a fit person to be an administrator.”
Robert Harrington’s former home in Kings Lynn, Norfolk, where the 94-year-old is said to have lived a secluded life following the death of his previous wife Eileen in 2018.
Mrs Qin protested, telling the judge she was trying to appeal the original ruling, claiming: “My husband wanted me to have his estate.”
When Master Clark pointed out that the will had already been declared void, Ms. Qin replied, “I don’t agree, I’ve appealed the case.”
Dismissing Ms Qin’s case, Master Clark said: “In principle, it would be wrong to adjourn this matter in the event that there is an appeal or in the event that any appeal is ultimately successful.
“I’m passing, that’s my decision.”
During the trial earlier this year, the court heard that Mr Harrington had already exhibited “strange behaviour” before he met Ms Qin, including “fortifying” his home in North Farm, Gayton Road, King’s Lynn, with CCTV cameras.
The couple have enjoyed a whirlwind romance, first meeting in January 2019, moving in together in February and with Mr Harrington proposing the following month.
Jill Langley with her mother Eileen, with whom she shared a close bond. She was diagnosed with dementia and died in 2018
The first Ms Langley heard of her new marriage was when she received a message from Ms Qin in March 2020 which read: “Just so you know dad remarried last year.”
The court heard Mr Harrington was in poor physical shape, unable to stand a photo on his wedding day and unable to even pronounce his bride’s name.
The last time Mrs Langley saw her father was at the funeral of his mother Eileen, his wife of 66 years, in January 2018, when she recalled him looking “very frail and vulnerable” and “rambling”.
Ms Langley would have benefited under the terms of an earlier will from 2012, which named her as her father’s heir, before it was rewritten in 2020, leaving her nothing.
Because Harrington’s 2020 will was voided, he was deemed to have died intestate and his estate would be divided according to the rules of intestacy.
The ruling meant Ms Langley would get around £200,000 from an estate now valued at £680,000, although she claimed it would have been worth a million pounds if not for the thousands paid to Ms Qin before her father died.
Mrs Qin would still automatically receive around £475,000 as her surviving spouse, although she faces lawyers’ bills estimated at £139,000.
James McKean, for Mrs. Langley, asked Mrs. Qin: “Once he got all his money, he threw it in the cheapest grave possible, that’s right, isn’t it? He didn’t even bother to maintain the grave properly.
Ms Qin denied the claims, saying she only received around £100,000 and told the court that she and Mr Harrington had started a “love affair” and that he “wanted to take care of her”.
Although “serious amounts of money” were transferred from her husband’s accounts, she insisted the payments were legitimate in the circumstances of a romantic relationship.
In his decision to set aside the will, Recorder McAllister said: “There was clearly an element of control on her part of the deceased and his finances which increased over time.
“In my view, the numerous inquiries about willing services show that there was shopping going on, which Ms. Qin knew from her own evidence, and which I believe she was involved in.
“These not only lend support to the question marks about increased capacity, but tend to suggest a guiding hand, which I believe is from Mrs. Qin.”
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