AS Jill Langley walked through the cemetery to place flowers on her mum’s headstone a simple wooden cross caught her eye.
Nestled among a patch of new graves and covered in weeds, something made Jill take a closer look – and what she saw filled her with horror.
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Etched on the wood was her dad Robert Harrington’s name.
He had been dead for almost two months – and less than a year after marrying a woman 39 years his junior.
His widow Guixiang Qin – who went by the name of Chelsea – had failed to tell Jill her 94-year-old dad had passed.
Jill, 70, said: “I couldn’t think straight when I saw the cross – I had such a sense of shock.
“Dad had been dead for weeks – and dumped in a cheap grave.”
There was worse to come when Jill, a former antiques dealer, discovered she had been cut out of her dad’s will.
A new document, drawn up just weeks before ex-butcher Robert died of sepsis, left everything to Qin, 54, and her university student son.
Furious, Jill took the case to court and, in an extraordinary hearing, it was revealed Qin had taken more than £300,000 from Robert’s account – even withdrawing money after his death.
This month, Qin was stripped of the right to manage Robert’s estate.
She was branded ‘unfit’ by a judge who said the document had been ‘procured by undue influence’ .
Qin was also found to have acted with a ‘significant element of impropriety’ and Robert was found to have suffered from paranoia in his old age.
Only-child Jill says her battle with Qin “was never about the money” but the fact her whole family, including her beloved mum Eileen, had worked hard over the years to build up the family’s successful butcher’s shop.
She said: “I realised I had two choices – either let this woman walk away with everything my family had worked for or do something about it.
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“My dear mum was only a small person but over the years worked really hard for my dad, like I had, and my cousin and uncle.
“The whole family contributed to the success of the business and for it all to go to a total stranger who thought she could take everything wasn’t right.
“She dumped my dad after a funeral that cost about £600 and tried to move on with his money.”
Despite being stripped of right to control Robert’s estate, as his wife, Qin is still entitled to thousands of pounds.
Now Jill,from Downham Market, Norfolk, is now joining a campaign to protect the elderly from ‘predatory marriages’.
She has joined forces with another victim Daphne Franks whose 91-year-old mum Joan Blass married a 67-year-old who inherited her £200k fortune.
I couldn’t let her walk away with everything
Jill Langley
Joan, who had dementia and cancer, married Colman Folan, then 67, in a ceremony just months before she died in 2016 – meaning her existing will was void and her children received nothing.
Daphne has been campaigning for a change in the law which sees marriages trump any existing wills.
Like Jill, her mum was buried without dignity – in Otley, West Yorkshire.
Daphne, 68, of Newcastle, said: “There’s no headstone where mum is buried. It used to have a number on it but now that’s disappeared.
“The mound of grass where she lies is just a mark of injustice to our family.
“I don’t believe many people know that wills are negated when someone gets married. This makes it easy for predators to get their hands on people’s estates.
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“I’ve spoken to dozens and dozens of people whose relatives have been victims of predatory marriage and registrars who say they are threatened with legal action for the cost of the honeymoon or even violence if they challenge a wedding.”
Jill’s anguish began when her mum Eileen died in 2018 aged 89 and her dad Robert started to display worrying behaviour which the Central London County Court accepted was a form of paranoid delusion.
Robert accused his daughter of stealing horses and a photo album from his £595,000 four-bedroom detached home in King’s Lynn.
He also wrongly believed he had been a senior officer in the army and became increasingly irate with Jill.
Shock letter
Unable to cope with Robert’s mood swings and increasing aggression, Jill stepped back but told her dad she would always be there if he needed her.
Then, in May 2020, came a bombshell letter that would turn Jill’s life on its head.
She got a note through the door from a woman called ‘Chelsea’ which read: “Just to let you know your dad married again last year.”
Jill said: “I had no idea who Chelsea was, never mind that dad had got married. I wondered if it was some sort of sick prank and rushed around to dad’s house but nobody was there.
“It was also like Fort Knox, with fences and gates and TV surveillance cameras.”
Jill discovered that Qin had moved into her dad’s home in February 2019, a month after meeting him.
Robert proposed in April that year and they were married in a registrar office with a random builder as a witness.
A court heard that Robert was so weak that he was unable to stand for pictures on his wedding day – and was unable to pronounce his bride’s name properly.
Eleven months later in July 2020, Jill spotted his wooden headstone near her mum’s in a cemetery in King’s Lyn.
Valuables lost
She said: “I saw this little wooden cross covered in weeds near all the new graves and went to have a look at it.
“When I saw the name my initial feeling was one of shock. Dad had been married and buried and I didn’t know this woman.
” I knew what it must all be about – money.
“I can’t even put a headstone on his grave because it’s owned by Qin. She said she didn’t want to do anything else to his grave because he was a modest man and that she’d do it when she got time. Nothing has happened in four years.
“I can’t go into dad’s house either and have no right to any sentimental items either. My mum wanted me to have her jewellery and my cousin Christopher’s dad, who was in a Japanese camp during WW2, gave my family a pocket watch that’s never been seen.
“As soon as dad died Qin sold his Mercedes car, a camper van and a four wheel drive. There are quite a lot of things inside the house that I believe may have been sold.”
Earlier this year, Jill took Qin to the Central London County Court where her dad’s will was made invalid.
Now she has won a case which strips her ‘stepmother’ of the role of executor of the will.
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She admits the cases have taken a “considerable toll” on her emotions and claims Qin lied about just how poorly her dad was.
Jill said: “Qin claimed to be a lawyer and said her dad was a judge in China but she’d had jobs in Wetherspoons and an Italian restaurant which, she claimed, she only took to improve her English.
“The inference was she didn’t need dad’s money but nothing made sense. Why would a legal expert work in a pub?
What is predatory marriage?
Predatory marriage became an accepted concept when Joan Blass’ case was brought up in Parliament.
It is not a legal term but covers circumstances when a vulnerable person is lured into a wedding for money.
Under current laws, drawn up in 1837, a marriage provokes almost all existing wills.
The surviving spouse has a right to a share of at least £270,000 of the estate and any cash left over is shared between them and any children.
In many instances, elderly people suffering from dementia are being conned into drawing up new wills which leave their partners even more money.
Family members who take cases to court find they have to prove that their loved ones were not only easy prey due to their mental state, but that there is something sinister afoot.
The process is costly and families can spent years tied up in legal red tape.
“She said dad had pushed money and gifts on her but he was from a generation that didn’t have much and money ruled his life. He didn’t even pay me for the hours I worked in his butcher shop and bought yellow stickered items from supermarkets.”
In court Qin claimed she met “adorable” Robert after he placed an advert in the paper in Christmas 2018 offering free food and drink and they simply fell in love.
Jill said: “I believe she was dad’s carer and took advantage of him.
“Putting adverts for free food in the paper isn’t something dad would have done. She also said he was happy and dancing and he had two arthritic knees and a crumbling back.”
While Jill feels vindicated by the court’s decision she had spent thousands of pounds fighting Qin and now wants people to be more aware of the dangers to elderly people.
She and Daphne’s fight is backed by a legal team at Rothley Law and Labour MP Fabian Hamilton who is going to raise the issue in Parliament.
The politician said: “It’s estimated that thousands of elderly and vulnerable people could be affected and it’s time this injustice was tackled at source.”
How to get power of attorney
Rows over inheritance have torn families apart.
Disputes over wills are increasingly common, with an estimated 10,000 per year in England and Wales.
Specialist solicitors say the passing of the property-rich boomer generation and a rise in dementia diagnoses are fuelling the financially ruinous and emotionally exhausting legal battles.
There is an option for people who want to set out their wishes in advance.
You can give someone you trust the legal authority to make decisions on your behalf if you are no longer able to.
There are two types – one for financial decisions and one for health and care – and you can set up lasting power of attorneys for both.
You can only create one if you have the mental capacity to do.
so and have not been put under pressure, but it is not necessarily permanent.
The system is overseen by the Office of the Public Guardian and you do not need a solicitor to draw one up.
LPAs for health can only be used if you lose mental capacity, but financial ones can kick in sooner, if you prefer.
For more information go to www.gov.uk/power-of-attorney
Jill’s lawyer Andrew Bishop, at Rothley Law, said: “Predatory marriages are very simplistic and cunning for scammers.
“The current wills act is antiquated and dates back to 1837 and urgently needs updating.
“There’s no real safeguarding around marriages and at ceremonies motives are rarely questioned. Those who are vulnerable or have dementia can present without any red flags unless you ask the right questions, and the signs are often missed.”
- Do you know someone who has fallen victim to scam marriage? Contact [email protected]
