CHEERS! MYRTLE WINS HER BATTLE TO STAY
VICTORY FOR THE DAILY EXPRESS
FRAIL Myrtle Cothill sobbed tears of joy yesterday after winning her fi ght against deportation – thanks to the crusading Daily Express.
The 92- year- old was celebrating the “perfect Mother’s Day present” after the Home Offi ce abandoned its heartless bid to boot her out of Britain.
Just days ago, Mrs Cothill, who suffers heart problems, is losing her eyesight and is unable to walk unaided, was ordered to report to immigration offi cials at Heathrow where she had been booked on to a fl ight to Johannesburg.
Mrs Cothill faced being forced to leave her British family and return to South Africa despite having no one to care for her there as her health rapidly declined.
But after the Daily Express highlighted Mrs Cothill’s plight, offi cials looked at the decision again.
Yesterday it was announced that “in the light of new evidence” the Home Offi ce had granted leave to remain after all.
Mrs Cothill said: “I am feeling very happy, overwhelmed. It is unbelievable. I feel like a weight has been lifted off me. I want to thank everyone who has supported me, and God bless them all.
“It has made such a tremendous difference to me. It’s too wonderful.”
Celebrating the news with a glass of champagne her daughter Mary Wills, 66, added: “Words cannot explain how I am feeling. I am overwhelmed. It is the best Mother’s Day present we could have hoped for.
Deteriorated
“The amount of support has been tremendous, especially the Daily Express which has been with us all the way through this.”
Mrs Cothill was brought here by her British family in February 2014 on a six- month visitor visa but her health rapidly deteriorated and they applied for her to stay.
Immigration rules state visas cannot be swapped while the person is in the country they are visiting. The Home Offi ce said she should have applied while in her native Natal.
Mrs Cothill was questioned in a courtroom by a tribunal which ruled she had to leave. She also lost an appeal.
The pensioner was told if she failed to comply with the rules she could face jail and forced removal.
All hope seemed lost until her case was taken up by the Daily Express and our columnist Ann Widdecombe.
The former Home Offi ce minister said yesterday: “I’m very grateful to the Daily Express for the campaign that it has organised. It was such a brutal thing to do in the fi rst place.
“I am glad that commonsense and compassion have prevailed. This is exactly the sort of thing that has brought the Home Offi ce into disrepute. The Home Offi ce goes for soft targets, anyone who follows the rules.
“But if you play the system and disappear the Home Offi ce will do nothing about it. All they’re interested in is ticking boxes, but this is one box they won’t be able to tick.” Mrs Cothill is cared for here entirely by her daughter who lives with her husband David, who suffers from Parkinson’s disease and has heart problems. The elderly widow receives no State benefi ts.
Mrs Wills, from Poole, Dorset, could not travel to South Africa to look after her mother there because they have no right to live in the country and her husband’s health would not allow it.
The case attracted a huge amount of public support on social media, with more than 150,000 people signing a petition calling for Mrs Cothill to be allowed to stay.
A new report found that sending her back would present a considerable risk that she would die within three months.
Immigration Minister James Brokenshire said: “Last month Mrs Cothill’s family were given the opportunity to provide further evidence about her health and fi tness to travel. I asked that this evidence be carefully considered as a fresh application under the rules.
“In the light of this assessment, I have decided that Mrs Cothill should be granted limited leave to remain in the UK with her family given the compassionate and exceptional circumstances of this case.”