A widow accused of dumping her millionaire husband in a pauper’s grave after inheriting his fortune has been stripped of the right to manage his estate and branded ‘unfit’ by a judge.
Wealthy pensioner Robert Harrington died aged 94 in May 2020, just 11 months after marrying former lawyer Guixiang Qin, 54, who had moved to his home in King’s Lynn, Norfolk, from China.
Mrs Qin inherited her husband’s fortune under his last will, written just two months before he died, sparking a court fight with his disinherited daughter, Jill Langley.
Mrs Langley, 70, claimed her father’s widow had lured him into a ‘predatory’ marriage and ‘dumped him in 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.
Chinese lawyer Guixiang Qin, 54, married wealthy Robert Harrington, 94, just 11 months before his death. She inherited everything from him under a will that was written two months before he died
Mr Harrington’s daughter Jill Langley successfully argued that Mrs Qin had exerted undue influence and control over her father and his finances, and his final will was overturned
Recorder Robert McAllister found that Mrs Qin had exerted undue influence and control over Mr Harrington, who was deemed ‘mentally unfit’ when his final will was made.
Following a new hearing, another judge has now ordered Mrs Qin’s removal as joint administrator of Mr Harrington’s estate in favour of his daughter.
James McKean, for Mrs Langley, urged the judge at London’s High Court to ‘pass over’ Mrs Qin as the court had established she wasn’t ‘an appropriate 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 ‘procured by undue influence and also that Mr Harrington lacked capacity to make it’.
She added that the facts found at the trial ‘would plainly lead to the conclusion that Mrs Qin…is not a fit person to be an administrator’.
Mrs Qin protested, telling the judge she is trying to appeal against the original ruling, claiming: ‘My husband wanted me to have his estate.’
When Master Clark pointed out that the will had already been declared invalid, Mrs Qin replied: ‘I don’t agree, I have appealed the case.’
The court heard Mr Harrington, 94, was in poor physical shape, was unable to stand for a photo on his wedding day, and was not even able to pronounce his new bride’s name
The former home of Robert Harrington in Gayton Road, Kings Lynn, where the 94-year-old is said to have lived a secluded life since the death of his wife in 2018
Rejecting Mrs Qin’s case, Master Clark said: ‘It would be wrong in principle to postpone this matter in case there is an appeal or in case any appeal ultimately succeeds.
‘I am passing you over, that is my decision.’
During the trial earlier this year, the court heard that Mr Harrington was already displaying ‘strange behaviour’ before he met Mrs Qin, including ‘fortifying’ his home at North Farm, Gayton Road, King’s Lynn, with CCTV cameras.
The couple enjoyed a whirlwind romance, meeting for the first time in January 2019, moving in together in February, and with Mr Harrington proposing the following month.
The first Mrs Langley knew of his new marriage was when she received a message from Mrs Qin in March 2020 reading: ‘Just to let you know that Dad married again last year.’
Mrs Langley believed her father (pictured in 1984) was the victim of a so-called ‘predatory marriage’, where a wealthy widow or widower is targeted purely for their money
The court heard Mr Harrington was in poor physical shape, unable to stand for a photo on his wedding day, and was not even able to pronounce his bride’s name.
The last time Mrs Langley saw her father was at the funeral of her mother, Eileen — his wife of 66 years — in January 2018, when she recalled him looking ‘very frail and vulnerable’ and ‘rambling’.
Soon after the funeral, she received a bombshell letter, stating: ‘This letter will be the last contact I ever attempt to make.’
Mrs Langley would have benefited under the terms of a previous 2012 will, which named her as her father’s heir, before it was rewritten in 2020, leaving her nothing.
Because Mr Harrington’s 2020 will was overturned, he was deemed to have died without making a will and his estate would be divided up under intestacy rules.
The ruling meant Mrs Langley would get about £200,000 from an estate now valued at £680,000, although she claimed it would have been worth about £1 million if not for thousands paid to Mrs Qin before her father died.
Mrs Qin would still automatically receive about £475,000 as his surviving spouse, although she is facing lawyers’ bills estimated at £139,000.
James McKean, for Mrs Langley, asked Mrs Qin: ‘Once you had got all his money you dumped him in the cheapest possible grave — that’s right, isn’t it? You haven’t even bothered to maintain the grave properly.’
Mrs Qin denied the claims, saying she only received about £100,000 and telling the court she and Mr Harrington had embarked on a ‘loving relationship’ and that he ‘wanted to look after 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 ruling overturning the will, Recorder McAllister said: ‘There was clearly an element of control by her of the deceased and his finances that increased over time.
‘The numerous enquiries for will services do, in my judgment, show that there was shopping around, which on her own evidence Mrs Qin knew about and in my judgment was involved in.
‘Not only do these lend support to question marks about capacity being raised, they tend to suggest a guiding hand, which I find to be Mrs Qin’s.’