Apr 24 2025, 11:38 AM, updated 8 months ago
> Chinese woman stabbed British ex-husband (died) and his new girlfriend (lifelong injuries).
> Left behind 2 children.
> Maternal grandparents demanded up to 550,000 yuan from the paternal grandparents for custody of both children.
> They settled on 80,000 yuan for custody of 1 child.
> Maternal grandparents tak tahu malu said paternal grandparents can't afford to raise both children in Britain.
> At one point the maternal grandparents backed out of a deal which included 100,000 yuan and a declaration of forgiveness which could have reduced their daughter's prison sentence by half.
Children of British man killed by Chinese wife separated after grandparents’ bitter custody battle
After Michael Simpson was stabbed to death by his estranged wife Fu Weiwei, their two children became embroiled in a heartbreaking conflict
The grandparents in Britain and in China disagreed over who should have guardianship, and at what price
https://archive.is/20230615201516/https://w...ed-chinese-wife
QUOTE
In March 2017, Alice and Jack’s father, Michael Simpson, 34 – an executive for the British retail outlet Next who had lived in China for eight years – was stabbed to death in a jealous rage in his Shanghai flat by his estranged wife, Fu Weiwei.
The couple, who met when Weiwei was a shop assistant at a Next outlet, had separated two years earlier, leaving Michael to raise Alice and Jack alone. The children lived a privileged expatriate life in Shanghai, where Jack went to an international school. The family enjoyed holidays together in Europe and Thailand, and the children spent as much time with Ian and Linda as they did with their Chinese grandparents.
The children’s lives were turned upside down when Michael was stabbed twice in the neck by Weiwei as he defended his new girlfriend, who was left with lifelong injuries after the attack. In the days following the killing, Alice and Jack were spirited 1,000km away by Weiwei’s family, to live in a flat in Nanzhang, with her parents.
For nearly two years, as a custody battle raged, the children were denied all but the briefest contact with their British grandparents and were told that Michael and Weiwei were working abroad. To this day, neither child knows their father is dead and their mother is serving a life term in prison for his murder.
As he left court with his granddaughter, Ian – who had handed over a canvas bag containing 80,000 yuan (US$11,800) to the Fu family as part of the custody deal – said, “We are overjoyed to bring Alice home but it absolutely breaks our hearts to leave Jack behind.
As Ian, a retired business project consultant, shuttled back and forth from Suffolk to China, engaging lawyers and conducting a custody case that has cost him more than 1 million yuan, the Fu family issued a series of demands for sums of up to 550,000 yuan to surrender both children. The Fus at one point backed out of an agreement to accept 100,000 yuan and a declaration of forgiveness for Weiwei in return for giving up custody of the children. That deal could have halved their mother’s jail term from 20 to 10 years.
At the meeting with Alice and Jack in March, Ian says, an uncle of the Fu family – himself a judge – told him, “You should have sympathy for Weiwei because she has lost her husband” and demanded he and Linda give the family money “because they are looking after your grandchildren”.
“They seem to have forgotten the backstory and decided we are the bad guys coming to take their grandchildren away,” Ian says. “I told him, ‘We are the ones who lost a son. Your daughter killed our son and killed the children’s father’.”
Weiwei refused to cooperate and offered no apology for killing Michael, saying she would leave the decision to her family, which in effect meant her brother, Fu Guojun.
“According to Chinese law, only the parents have the right to decide who should care for their children,” Yu said in a telephone interview. “Their father died but their mother is alive. Before she was jailed, she wrote a letter of authorisation to her brother and father making them guardians of her children. Therefore, the [British] grandparents have no right to apply to be the children’s guardians.”
The deal that was finally struck saw the custody hearing suspended as Ian and Linda handed over 80,000 yuan for custody of Alice. The agreement included provision for the children to speak at least weekly by WeChat and for Alice to visit China or Jack to visit Britain once a year, at the Simpsons’ expense.
The money handed over represented more than a year’s income for Fu Shibao, a retired bicycle repair man, and Hu, who in documents submitted to the custody hearing said they got by on less than 2,000 yuan a week.
Ian and Linda say they were tempted to pay the full 550,000 yuan demanded for custody of both children but were cautioned by their lawyers that if they agreed, the Fu family – in negotiations directed by Guojun – would respond by upping the demand to 1 million yuan.
Contacted by telephone in Suzhou before the settlement was reached, and asked why his family was demanding such large sums of money, an angry Guojun would say only, “I will not answer your questions. I have nothing to say to you,” before hanging up.
Yu disputed that at the custody hearing, arguing that the Simpsons could not afford to raise both children because of the high prices in Britain, showing the court a photograph downloaded from the internet of a grocery store with a hoarding outside advertising oranges at £1.38 (HK$14) a pound.
“Their annual income is less than the amount we gave them on Boxing Day,” counters Ian. “No, [Alice and Jack] were not being mistreated. No, they were not on the breadline. But I honestly believe we can give them back the life they had before – travel, holidays, education and friends.
“The judge said [as the custody case went to the out-of-court settlement] that even the Fu family eventually admitted the children would be better off in England.”
The couple, who met when Weiwei was a shop assistant at a Next outlet, had separated two years earlier, leaving Michael to raise Alice and Jack alone. The children lived a privileged expatriate life in Shanghai, where Jack went to an international school. The family enjoyed holidays together in Europe and Thailand, and the children spent as much time with Ian and Linda as they did with their Chinese grandparents.
The children’s lives were turned upside down when Michael was stabbed twice in the neck by Weiwei as he defended his new girlfriend, who was left with lifelong injuries after the attack. In the days following the killing, Alice and Jack were spirited 1,000km away by Weiwei’s family, to live in a flat in Nanzhang, with her parents.
For nearly two years, as a custody battle raged, the children were denied all but the briefest contact with their British grandparents and were told that Michael and Weiwei were working abroad. To this day, neither child knows their father is dead and their mother is serving a life term in prison for his murder.
As he left court with his granddaughter, Ian – who had handed over a canvas bag containing 80,000 yuan (US$11,800) to the Fu family as part of the custody deal – said, “We are overjoyed to bring Alice home but it absolutely breaks our hearts to leave Jack behind.
As Ian, a retired business project consultant, shuttled back and forth from Suffolk to China, engaging lawyers and conducting a custody case that has cost him more than 1 million yuan, the Fu family issued a series of demands for sums of up to 550,000 yuan to surrender both children. The Fus at one point backed out of an agreement to accept 100,000 yuan and a declaration of forgiveness for Weiwei in return for giving up custody of the children. That deal could have halved their mother’s jail term from 20 to 10 years.
At the meeting with Alice and Jack in March, Ian says, an uncle of the Fu family – himself a judge – told him, “You should have sympathy for Weiwei because she has lost her husband” and demanded he and Linda give the family money “because they are looking after your grandchildren”.
“They seem to have forgotten the backstory and decided we are the bad guys coming to take their grandchildren away,” Ian says. “I told him, ‘We are the ones who lost a son. Your daughter killed our son and killed the children’s father’.”
Weiwei refused to cooperate and offered no apology for killing Michael, saying she would leave the decision to her family, which in effect meant her brother, Fu Guojun.
“According to Chinese law, only the parents have the right to decide who should care for their children,” Yu said in a telephone interview. “Their father died but their mother is alive. Before she was jailed, she wrote a letter of authorisation to her brother and father making them guardians of her children. Therefore, the [British] grandparents have no right to apply to be the children’s guardians.”
The deal that was finally struck saw the custody hearing suspended as Ian and Linda handed over 80,000 yuan for custody of Alice. The agreement included provision for the children to speak at least weekly by WeChat and for Alice to visit China or Jack to visit Britain once a year, at the Simpsons’ expense.
The money handed over represented more than a year’s income for Fu Shibao, a retired bicycle repair man, and Hu, who in documents submitted to the custody hearing said they got by on less than 2,000 yuan a week.
Ian and Linda say they were tempted to pay the full 550,000 yuan demanded for custody of both children but were cautioned by their lawyers that if they agreed, the Fu family – in negotiations directed by Guojun – would respond by upping the demand to 1 million yuan.
Contacted by telephone in Suzhou before the settlement was reached, and asked why his family was demanding such large sums of money, an angry Guojun would say only, “I will not answer your questions. I have nothing to say to you,” before hanging up.
Yu disputed that at the custody hearing, arguing that the Simpsons could not afford to raise both children because of the high prices in Britain, showing the court a photograph downloaded from the internet of a grocery store with a hoarding outside advertising oranges at £1.38 (HK$14) a pound.
“Their annual income is less than the amount we gave them on Boxing Day,” counters Ian. “No, [Alice and Jack] were not being mistreated. No, they were not on the breadline. But I honestly believe we can give them back the life they had before – travel, holidays, education and friends.
“The judge said [as the custody case went to the out-of-court settlement] that even the Fu family eventually admitted the children would be better off in England.”
This post has been edited by JohnL77: Apr 24 2025, 11:57 AM
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