Before you settle down to Christmas lunch, help support a 92-year old facing forced removal from the arms of her family in the UK
Today, many will spend Christmas Day in the company of their elderly relatives. For 66-year old Poole, Dorset resident Mary Wills, however, this could be one of the last she gets to spend with her mother, Myrtle Cothill, as the 92-year old faces forced deportation to her native South Africa despite having heart problems, loss of sight in one eye and no family in her native land.
Cothill, whom has been cared for in the UK by her only daughter since February 2014, was born under the British flag in 1924, her father fought for the country in the First World War and her brother in the Second. She is said to be financially independent with a pension of £300 per month yet was sent letters by Capita – a private firm that deals with those who outstay visas – informing her to make immediate plans to leave the country.
In response to immigration enforcement officials also instructing Mrs Cothill to sign in at Bournemouth police station on 6th January 2016, former Conservative MP Ann Widdecombe described the situation as “heartless in the extreme”. She added: “On this occasion the rule book has proved a brutal master instead of a useful servant”.
A petition has been started on Change.org urging Theresa May “to grant Myrtle Cothill leave to remain in the UK” and we urge readers to click here to sign it. A civilised society treats its elderly with respect and today it is time that our Scrooge-like Home Secretary showed some.
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