Widow faces deportation from UK despite being 92 and frail
Tuesday 22 December 2015 15.33 GMT Last modified on Tuesday 22 December 2015 22.01 GMT
1,521 Comments 1,241
A 92-year-old widow from South Africa who wants to spend the “end of her days” with her only child in Britain is facing enforced removal from the UK even though she has heart problems, loss of sight in one eye and no family in her native land.
Myrtle Cothill has been cared for by her only daughter, 66-year-old Mary Wills, in Poole, Dorset, since February 2014, but recently received letters from Capita advising her to make immediate plans to leave the country after her visa application was rejected by immigration authorities.
Capita is a private firm hired by the Home Office to get those who outstay their visa to comply with the immigration application rulings. Wills, who holds a British passport, says the enforcers “will have to kill her” before they deport her mother.
She has also received instructions from immigration enforcement officials advising her her mother needs to sign in at Bournemouth police station on the first Wednesday in January.
The former Tory MP Ann Widdecombe, who has taken up the case of the South African pensioner, says the decision is “heartless in the extreme”. She added: “On this occasion the rule book has proved a brutal master instead of a useful servant.”
Saira Grant, legal and policy director at the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants, said Cothill was a casualty of 2012 changes in immigration laws.
The new adult dependent rules say migrants “must as a result of age, illness or disability, require long term personal care: that is help performing everyday tasks, eg washing, dressing and cooking”. This means the 92-year-old has to prove she is dying before she can stay with her daughter, says Grant.
Cothill has an enlarged heart, poor hearing and has lost the sight in one eye because of macular degeneration but neither her condition nor her advanced age is enough to secure her the comfort of life with her daughter.
A Home Office spokesman said Cothill’s application was rejected as her “condition was not deemed to be life-threatening” and that “suitable medical treatment” was available in her country of origin.
Wills, who lost her father when she was a small child, has vowed to fight deportation. “I came into this world fatherless. My mother worked her fingers to the bone to educate me and to build a life for me. Why can’t I take care of her in her old age, like she did for me when I was a child? She is not a threat to anyone. It is just wrong to separate us.”
Cothill said she was very hurt at theHome Office ruling. Not only was was she born under the British flag in 1924, but her father fought for the UK in the first world war and her brother fought for the country in the second world war. She is also financially independent with a pension of £300 a month.
Asked how she would feel if she is removed from the country, Cothill said: “I don’t want to go. I’ve got nobody there and I am not well enough to travel. I’m very upset. I’m very old. I’m 92. I want to live with my daughter for the end of my days.”
I'm glad this thread is here, because only a blind man would fail to see the overwhelming anti-immigration bias that exists on this forum, but really there are always going to be stories of immigrants getting a hard time and immigrants getting away with it. The same applies to benefits in general.
I find it quite hard to tell which is more quantitatively significant.
I'm glad this thread is here, because only a blind man would fail to see the overwhelming anti-immigration bias that exists on this forum, but really there are always going to be stories of immigrants getting a hard time and immigrants getting away w
Under UK immigration rules British citizens can only be joined by non EU relatives "where the long-term care they require is either not available or not affordable in their country of residence, but privately payable by them in the UK" and applications for leave should be submitted before arrival in the country.
Her daughter added: "I hope now that the Home Office will give my Mum a huge Christmas Present by Stamping her passport with Leave to Remain in England, the Country she has always loved and still does."
Under UK immigration rules British citizens can only be joined by non EU relatives "where the long-term care they require is either not available or not affordable in their country of residence, but privately payable by them in the UK" and applicatio
She will get to stay no doubt and this case will get used as an example for others that come in , hopefully im wrong and they use her as an example and send her home.
If she was Muslim the forum would be in meltdown She will get to stay no doubt and this case will get used as an example for others that come in , hopefully im wrong and they use her as an example and send her home.
That reminds me of the 92 year old cocaine smuggler in Australia who got off , if your 92 can you just do as you like?
The laws really dont exist do they
92 year old That reminds me of the 92 year old cocaine smuggler in Australia who got off , if your 92 can you just do as you like?The laws really dont exist do they
She doesnt sound English , where did she pay her taxes ? She sold up in South Africa and her daughter WANTS THE CASH simple
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KyNefFZz3PcShe doesnt sound English , where did she pay her taxes ? She sold up in South Africa and her daughter WANTS THE CASH simple
She needs to black up, become a mussie, and denounce that bloke Rhodes who invented Rhodesia.
Not only would she be allowed to stay, she'd be able to bring her family over as well (if she had any) NAP
She needs to black up, become a mussie, and denounce that bloke Rhodes who invented Rhodesia.Not only would she be allowed to stay, she'd be able to bring her family over as well (if she had any)NAP
The former Tory MP Ann Widdecombe, who has taken up the case of the South African pensioner, says the decision is “heartless in the extreme”. She added: “On this occasion the rule book has proved a brutal master instead of a useful servant.”
So rules are just meant to be useful now
The former Tory MP Ann Widdecombe, who has taken up the case of the South African pensioner, says the decision is “heartless in the extreme”. She added: “On this occasion the rule book has proved a brutal master instead of a useful servant.”S
mememe mememe 23 Dec 15 17:21 Joined: 21 Jan 11 | Topic/replies: 1,621 | Blogger: mememe's blog She needs to black up, become a mussie, and denounce that bloke Rhodes who invented Rhodesia.
Not only would she be allowed to stay, she'd be able to bring her family over as well (if she had any) NAP
memememememe 23 Dec 15 17:21 Joined: 21 Jan 11 | Topic/replies: 1,621 | Blogger: mememe's blogShe needs to black up, become a mussie, and denounce that bloke Rhodes who invented Rhodesia.Not only would she be allowed to stay, she'd be able to bring h
Looks like you can break the law as long as you get the people to feel sorry for youhttp://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/cannabis-grower-spared-jail-after-9760006