The moment we told Alice how her father was killed
THE father of murdered Michael Simpson has told of the anguished moment he had to tell his little granddaughter the truth about her parents after she asked him: ‘Did Mummy do something nasty to Daddy?’
Alice Simpson, six, did not know her father had been stabbed to death by his estranged wife Wei Wei Fu when she arrived in Britain to live with her grandparents in January nearly two years after the murder. Her Chinese grandparents had said only that her parents were working away.
Covering up the truth about Michael’s murder from Alice and her brother Jack meant Alice’s British family Ian and Linda had the ordeal of telling her what really happened as she tried to adjust to moving from China and relearning English.
‘We got someone who spoke Chinese to very gently explain to Alice her father was dead and her mother was in prison. I’m not sure if she fully understood that at the time but she said she did,’ said Ian, who consulted a psychiatrist for advice on how to break the news.
It was five months later when Alice, who now lives near Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, with her grandfather and his second wife Diana, spoke of the night of her father’s murder for the first time. She told Ian: ‘Oh, that’s when I woke up Jack. There was this noise and he’s my big brother so I woke him and he went out to find out what was going on. Then a man came and told us we had to get dressed and my uncle came the next day to take us away.’
At that point Alice said: ‘Oh, it’s all too scary.’ Ian explained: ‘That’s her way of saying she doesn’t want to talk about it any more.’
Jack has now been told by his Chinese family the truth about his father’s death after Alice left for Britain. He has visited his mother in prison at least twice.
How Alice comes to terms with the reality of her father’s murder in the long-term is now a huge worry for her British grandparents. ‘All the signs are positive,’ said Ian. ‘She sleeps well, she eats well, she plays well, she is really doing well at school. There is no sign of any problems.
‘But we don’t know what is in the back of her mind and that terrifies Di and me.’