THE family of a Wimborne man murdered by his estranged wife will fly to China this month in a bid to take custody of his children.

Court hearings have been scheduled in the latest battle over the future of Michael Simpson’s son and daughter.

As reported in the Daily Echo, Mr Simpson, who was 34, was stabbed to death by his ex Weiwei Fu at his home in Shanghai in 2017. His new partner, Rachel Lin, was also seriously hurt in the attack.

Weiwei was jailed for life by a Chinese court this year.

The former couple’s children Jack and Alice, who are now aged eight and six, are still in China living with their maternal grandparents.

Their children’s paternal grandparents, Ian and Linda, are seeking to bring the children to the UK, and have accused Weiwei’s brother of extortion for allegedly demanding £63,000 in exchange for the children.

The BBC now reports that Ian and Linda Simpson will fly to Nanzhang, China for court hearings on December 20 and 21.

Mr Simpson senior has previously said he is “appalled” that Wewei’s family are now only offering to return Alice to the UK.

“We have a proposition, but I doubt they will take it as their history is to ask for a lot of money,” he told the BBC.

The custody battle has so far cost £100,000, of which a third has been raised through public appeals, it was said.

The British ambassador is due to visit the Beijing High Court in the coming days to discuss the case.

Foreign Office officials say they will continue to support the Simpsons at a “difficult and trying time”.

Mr Simpson, who lived in Wimborne until his late teens, was a top retail executive.

His family are crowdfunding to cover legal costs. According to information on the webpage, justgiving.com/crowdfunding/jack-and-alice, the children are being ‘denied access to proper healthcare [and] access to their grandparents’.

They are also unaware of the truth of their father’s death, it is said.