The daughter, who won an inheritance battle against her “stepmother” – more than 10 years her junior – said she hoped the case would serve as a warning to others.
Wealthy pensioner Robert Harrington died in May 2020, aged 94, just 11 months after marrying Kuishan Qin, 54, a former lawyer who had moved to his home in King’s Lynn, Norfolk, from China.
Mrs Qin inherited her billionaire husband’s fortune through a will he wrote just two months before his death, but a legal battle erupted with her daughter, Jill Langley, who was disinherited.
Mrs Langley, 70, of Downham Market, claimed her father’s widow lured him into a “predatory” marriage and then “dumped him in the cheapest grave possible” after “getting all his fortune”.
The will was invalidated following a trial at Central London County Court earlier this year, with Recorder Robert McAllister finding that Mrs Hata had exercised undue influence and control over Mr Harrington, who was deemed “mentally unfit” at the time the will was made.
And today, Mrs. Qin, who was accused of abandoning her billionaire husband in a slum after inheriting his fortune, has been stripped of control of his estate by a judge and branded “unfit.”
Jill Langley, 70, found out her 94-year-old father was remarrying when a handwritten letter arrived in her mailbox one morning in early March 2020.
Qin Guixiang, 54, a Chinese lawyer, married Robert Harrington, 94, just 11 months before he died. She inherited everything from him under a will written two months before he died.
Robert Harrington, 94, was so ill he was unable to pose for photographs on his wedding day or pronounce his bride’s name, the court was told.
Mrs Langley, 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: “This was never about money, it was about principle.”
“My mother and I worked in my father’s butcher shop for many years and we didn’t want to see strangers take all his assets.
“I hope this case will serve as a landmark and warning to others. There is no way this 54-year-old woman would be interested in marrying my 93-year-old father if he didn’t have money.”
China-born Ms Qin said she met the “lovely” retired butcher after seeing an advert in a local newspaper in late 2018 offering “free food and drinks over Christmas”, and the unlikely pair fell in love.
But his death sparked a bitter legal battle over a will he had written just two months before, which excluded his daughter, Mrs Langley, from inheriting his estate and left all his assets to his new wife.
Mr Harrington’s daughter, Jill Langley, claimed Mrs Hata had exercised undue influence and control over her father and his estate, causing his will to be overturned.
Mrs Langley said her relationship with her father had become intermittent since the death of her mother, Eileen, in January 2018, due in part to his delusional mental state.
Shortly after the funeral, she received a shocking letter that read: “This letter will be my last attempt at contact.”
She recalls, “My father was not getting enough blood to his brain and accused me of stealing his photo album – which was actually a collage of framed photographs that I had hung in my mother’s care home and taken home as a keepsake after she died.”
“I only knew about my father and Qin’s marriage registration from a scribbled note. A builder was called as a witness.”
“We tried to contact him but he never picked up the phone. There are all kinds of security cameras and gates on the property and no one answered when we called.”
“I found out about my father’s death by chance. I was at King’s Lynn Crematorium for another funeral and visited my mother’s grave, and on the way there I noticed a small wooden cross with my father’s name inscribed on it.
Mrs Langley believed her father, Robert Harrington (pictured here in 1984), was the victim of “predatory marriages” in which wealthy widows and widowers were targeted only for their money.
“That was two months later and it was a tragic event. Qin told the court that she had left me a phone message about the funeral but we never picked it up.
“I don’t think she was going to tell me anything until after probate.”
Now, after a new hearing, a different judge has removed Mrs Hata as co-conservator of Mr Harrington’s estate and ordered that her daughter inherit it instead.
James McKean, representing Mrs Langley, asked a judge at the High Court in London to “send off” Mrs Qin because the court had found she was “not a fit and proper person to act as the personal representative of the estate”.
And after a short hearing, in which Mr Hata defended himself, Judge Julia Clark ruled against him, finding that the will had been “obtained by undue influence and that Mr Harrington lacked the capacity to make a will”.
She added that the facts revealed at trial “will clearly lead to the conclusion that Mrs Qin is not fit to be an administrator.”
Robert Harrington’s former home in King’s Lynn, Norfolk, where the 94-year-old is said to have lived in seclusion since the death of his ex-wife Eileen in 2018.
Qin protested, telling the judge she intended to appeal the original sentence, claiming that “my husband wanted to give his property to me.”
When Judge Clark pointed out that the will had already been declared invalid, Mrs Qin replied: “I disagree. I have appealed the matter.”
Judge Clark dismissed Qin’s appeal, saying it would be wrong in principle to postpone this matter pending an appeal or if the appeal is ultimately successful.
“I’m going to pass you. That’s my decision.”
At a trial earlier this year, the court heard that Harrington had been exhibiting “bizarre behaviour” even before he met Mrs Chin, including having his home at North Farm, Gayton Road, King’s Lynn, “fortified” with CCTV cameras.
The two first met in January 2019, began living together in February, and their relationship developed quickly, with Harrington proposing marriage the following month.
Jill Langley with her mother, Eileen, with whom she had a deep bond. She was diagnosed with dementia and passed away in 2018.
The first time Mrs. Langley learned of her father’s remarriage was in March 2020 when she received a message from Mrs. Qin saying, “Your father remarried last year.”
The court heard that Mr Harrington was so unwell that he was unable to take photographs on the day of the wedding and was unable to pronounce his bride’s name.
Mrs Langley last saw her father at the funeral of her mother, Eileen, after 66 years, in January 2018. She recalled that her father seemed “very fragile, very vulnerable” and “disorganised”.
Mrs Langley had been named as her father’s heir under the terms of a will drawn up in 2012, but in 2020 the will was amended so that she was left with nothing.
Because Harrington’s 2020 will was overturned, he was deemed to have died without a will, and his estate will be divided according to the rules of intestate succession.
The judgment means Mrs Langley will receive around £200,000 of an estate currently valued at £680,000, but she claims that without thousands of pounds paid to Mrs Chin before her father’s death, the estate would have been worth around £1 million.
Mrs Hata will have to pay legal fees estimated at £139,000, but will automatically receive around £475,000 as her husband’s surviving spouse.
James McKean, representing Mrs Langley, asked Mrs Qin: “You took all his money and then buried him in the cheapest grave possible, right? And you didn’t even try to look after the grave properly.”
Mrs Qin denied the allegations in court, saying she only received around £100,000 and that she and Mr Harrington had a “loving relationship” and that he “wanted to look after her”.
Despite the “significant amounts of money” having been transferred from her husband’s account, she maintained that the payments were lawful within the context of their romantic relationship.
In his ruling overturning the will, Judge McAllister said: “It is clear that she had control over the deceased and her estate which increased over time.”
“The large number of enquiries about will services indicates, in my judgment, that shopping was taking place. Mrs Qin’s own evidence indicates that she was aware of it and, in my judgment, was involved in that shopping.”
“These not only support the question of capacity building, but also tend to suggest a leadership role, which I believe to be Hata.”
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