A Chinese lawyer who married an elderly millionaire widower 11 months before his death is being sued by his daughter after she was cut out of his will.
Guixiang Qin, 54, married wealthy retired butcher Robert Harrington in June 2019, 11 months before his death at the age of 94.
Ms Qin met the “generous, adorable and humorous” Mr Harrington after he placed an advert in the newspaper offering a free Christmas dinner in exchange for company, she told a judge.
Ms Qin, a trained lawyer from China, moved to his home in Kings Lynn, Norfolk, the month after they met in January 2019, and the couple married shortly afterwards.
Mr Harrington died in May 2020, having amended his will two months earlier to divorce his only child, Jill Langley, 70, and leave his estate, estimated at around £1 million, to his new bride.
Guixiang Qin, 54, moved into Robert Harrington’s home in Kings Lynn, Norfolk, the month after they met in January 2019
Robert Harrington with two children, many years ago
Robert Harrington’s daughter Jill Langley, 70, arrives at Central London County Court
Now Ms Langley is suing her late father’s widow, with Ms Qin denying allegations that she “dumped him in the cheapest grave possible… once you got all his money.”
Ms Qin told the Central London County Court that she had originally come to Britain to study for an MBA in law and did not need money.
She met Mr Harrington in January 2019 after responding to a newspaper advertisement he placed offering “free food and drink over Christmas” in exchange for company, she told Recorder Robert McAllister.
She finally contacted him in the new year, she said, and soon after he took her on a trip to the seaside.
“We had fish and chips and I paid for it,” she said, commenting: “to me he was just a very gentle person, a gentleman.”
Ms Langley’s lawyer, James McKean, said the courtship appeared to be a “whirlwind romance”, adding: “So this relationship developed extremely quickly?” “Yes,” she replied.
“What did you see in him when you met him?” Mr McKean asked, then continued: ‘He told you at that first meeting that he had three cars, didn’t he?’ suggesting that Mr Harrington had ‘bragged’ to her about his cars and ‘told you he was a millionaire’.
“No,” she protested. “He didn’t tell me.”
The lawyer highlighted bank statements which he said showed Mr Harrington had been virtually cleared by Ms Qin between October 2018 and May 2020.
“From October 2018 to May 2020, you took almost every penny he had, didn’t you?” he put her down.
“No, and in October 2018, I didn’t even go to his house,” Ms. Qin said. “I hadn’t met him yet.”
Mr McKean claimed the grave bought for Mr Harrington was untidy and had been poorly maintained since his death, while Ms Qin revealed she paid £640 for the headstone.
“You only spent £640 because you took all the other money,” the lawyer suggested, but she told the court: “While Mr Harrington was alive I spoke to him about this and he said I wasn’t talking about this extravagantly had to be’ .
“The only thing Mr. Harrington was to you was an opportunity to make money,” Ms. Langley’s lawyer said. “When you had all his money, you dumped him in the cheapest grave possible – that’s right, isn’t it?”
“No,” Mrs. Qin insisted, denying the lawyer’s suggestion that she had “not even bothered to properly maintain the grave.”
Mr Harrington’s daughter, Ms Langley, also claims her stepmother ignored her father’s wishes to be buried next to his late wife of 66 years, who died in 2018.
But Ms Qin said Mr Harrington was buried separately from his first wife because: “he said he loved me and preferred to be buried near me.”
Mr McKean accused her of ‘taking advantage of him to enter into a predatory marriage’, adding that she later ‘pressured or persuaded your husband to make that will’.
Ms Qin denied the allegations against her, insisting: “Robert loved me very much and I loved him too.”
Mrs. Qin told the court through an interpreter that she “never asked for his money” and that she loved her husband for his sense of humor and passion for singing and dancing around the house.
She branded the wealthy ex-butcher “cute” and told Mr Harrington she didn’t need his money, although she would notice he had deposited money into her account.
“He told me so many times that he would give me money, but I didn’t ask for it, I told him I didn’t need it,” she told the judge.
“I knew he was a special and wonderful person and also that (he) was very generous to everyone, and also that he was very cute and humorous and that he sang and watched TV in his spare time.”
She was seduced by Mr Harrington’s charm, Ms Qin told the court, adding that the pensioner had also taught her to prepare traditional household recipes such as roast chicken and his favorite ham and beef dishes.
‘He was very fond of music and loved to sing and dance. Sometimes he sang to me when we watched TV. He knew every song that was on TV, and he told me his childhood story,” she told the court.
Ms Langley’s lawyer challenged Ms Qin over her claims that she did not meet her future husband until January 2019, suggesting they met in 2018 or 2017, when she reportedly went to work as a paid caregiver for the then wife of Mr. Harrington, Eileen.
Robert Harrington’s former home in Gayton Road, Kings Lynn, Norfolk
“You were that caregiver, weren’t you?” the lawyer asked, but Ms. Qin denied this and said, “I wasn’t there.”
She explained that after seeing Mr Harrington’s newspaper ad “inviting people to lunch” in late 2018, they initially chatted over the phone before she met him in person in early 2019.
The pair were talking on the phone around Christmas 2018 when she realized how lonely he was and decided to meet him, the court heard.
“I promised I would visit him because I had a feeling he was feeling very down at the time.”
Ms Langley’s lawyer suggested that more than £350,000 was transferred from Mr Harrington’s account to Ms Qin’s between 2018 and 2020, which she flatly denied.
She told the judge: ‘At first he didn’t pay me and I didn’t ask him for money. After a few months he just gave me money because I wasn’t allowed to work.’
In March 2019, she was referred to a £5,000 payment, which she said went towards her wedding ring.
“He asked me to marry him two or three times,” she told the court.
Ms Qin denies all allegations regarding the will, telling the court that “his mind was completely clear” and that in May 2020 four lawyers were involved in the process of drafting the will.
The judge has now reserved his decision in the case, which will be delivered at a later date.
