Heartbreak of widow, 92, ordered to leave Britain
A FRAIL widow of 92 has been ordered to pack her bags and leave the UK despite having no close family in her native South Africa.
Myrtle Cothill has heart problems, failing eyesight and cannot walk unaided. She is looked after by her only daughter, Mary Wills, in Poole, Dorset.
But her application to stay in Britain has been turned down and she has been booked on a flight back to South Africa on Tuesday.
More than 50,000 people have signed a petition calling for the pensioner to be allowed to stay in the UK, and Mrs Wills says she fears the move would kill her mother.
In a statement on the change. org petition, she wrote: ‘My mother just cannot live on her own, and emotionally, to her as well as for myself, it would really tear strips out of our heart and probably would kill my mother, and maybe myself as well.’
Mrs Wills lives with her husband David, who suffers from Parkinson’s disease and heart problems – preventing her from travelling to South Africa to look after her mother.
Her barrister, Jan Doerfel, said: ‘This is a heart-breaking situation for Myrtle and Mary, who is looking after her.
‘If Myrtle does not depart, she will be at risk not only of immigration detention but also of enforced removal.’
James Davies, Mrs Cothill’s immigration adviser at the International Care Network, said: ‘Myrtle does not have close family members in South Africa willing and or able to look after her, and is dependent on both the emotional and physical care of her daughter in the UK.
‘To take a decision to remove her is contrary to every human instinct or duty to care for our elders.’