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In a case that has captured widespread attention, a Chinese lawyer, Guixiang Qin, lost a legal battle over the estate of her late 94-year-old husband, Robert Harrington, a wealthy man from Kings Lynn, Norfolk. The case revolved around a will that left Harrington’s entire fortune - estimated at £1 million - to his new wife, excluding his only daughter, Jill Langley. The marriage, which took place just 11 months before Harrington's death in May 2020, was scrutinized for its timing and circumstances, with Langley accusing Qin of orchestrating a "predatory marriage" to secure Harrington’s estate.
Langley, now 70, challenged the validity of her father's will, asserting that her father lacked the mental capacity to make such significant changes due to his advanced age and declining health. She claimed that Qin, who was 39 years younger than Harrington, took advantage of his vulnerable state, exerting undue influence over him to amend the will and remove his daughter as the beneficiary.
Harrington, a widower who had lost his wife of 66 years, Eileen, in January 2018, had been in poor health during his final years. Langley argued that her father’s physical and mental condition made him incapable of understanding the implications of changing his will. She recalled that, at the time of the marriage, Harrington was too weak to even stand for a photograph, highlighting his frailty and questioning his ability to make such important legal decisions.
According to Langley, she had always shared a close and loving relationship with her parents. She had even helped her father build and run a successful butcher’s business, working for more than 20 years to expand its operations. For years, she believed that she would inherit her father’s estate, not only because of her contributions to the family business but also because of a promise Harrington had made to her. "He made a constant promise that it would be mine one day," Langley testified in court.
However, after the death of her mother, Langley’s relationship with her father deteriorated. She explained that her father became increasingly isolated, paranoid, and quick-tempered, leading to a total breakdown in communication between them. Langley described how her father installed surveillance cameras and fortifications around his home, turning it into something resembling "Fort Knox." She also recounted receiving an "awful letter" from her father shortly after her mother’s funeral, in which he accused her of stealing a family photo album - a clear indication, she said, of his growing mental instability.
It was during this period of estrangement that Qin, who had initially been hired as Harrington’s caregiver, came into the picture. According to Langley, her father could not even pronounce Qin’s name, and she accused Qin of taking advantage of Harrington’s loneliness and frailty to manipulate him into marriage and rewrite his will in her favor. “What would a 54-year-old woman see in a man of 93 who could have died the day after their marriage? There’s only one thing, and that was his estate,” Langley said during the trial.
Jill Langley
Qin, however, strongly denied the allegations, insisting that her relationship with Harrington was genuine and based on love. Through her lawyers, she argued that Harrington had chosen to leave her everything in his will because he wanted to look after her. Qin claimed that Harrington had proposed to her after they developed a "loving and sexual relationship," and that his decision to change the will was his own. She also denied ever acting solely as his caregiver, asserting that their relationship was far more personal and intimate.
Qin’s legal team further challenged Langley’s account by pointing to the strained relationship between Harrington and his daughter in his later years. Richard Buston, Qin’s barrister, argued that Harrington had become estranged from Langley long before he married Qin. He pointed to a letter that Harrington allegedly wrote to his daughter before his death, in which he told her, “We are totally finished, and your family will get nothing from my will. I married last year, and my new wife loves me and I love her. We are looking after each other.” Langley, however, claimed she had never received such a letter.
Jill with her mother Eileen, with whom she shared a close bond. She was diagnosed with dementia and died in 2018
The court also heard testimony about Harrington’s increasingly erratic behavior in his final years, with Langley describing how her father would approach strangers in the street and boast about how much money he had, making him vulnerable to manipulation. “He would tell people what he had and how much money he had,” she said, adding that her father was "open to abuse."
Despite Langley’s claims of undue influence and her father’s mental incapacity, the court ultimately sided with Qin. The judge, Recorder Robert McAllister, found no sufficient evidence to support the assertion that Harrington had been coerced into changing his will or that he lacked the mental capacity to make such a decision. The court ruled that Harrington’s last will, which left his entire estate to Qin, was valid and legally binding.
