Home Office drops its threat to remove severely ill woman to her birth country of South Africa, where she has no relatives

A 92-year-old widow living in the care of her daughter has been told she can remain in the UK after the Home Office dropped its threat of immediate removal to South Africa.

Myrtle Cothill, a native South African who has heart problems, failing eyesight and is unable to walk unaided, is looked after by her only daughter, Mary Wills, in Poole, Dorset.

The widower had been booked on to a flight to Johannesburg two weeks ago after her bid to stay in the UK was rejected on appeal.

After an outcry from the public, the Home Office postponed her removal to give the family more time to prove claims that Cothill’s poor health meant she was unfit to travel and care for herself.

Fresh medical evidence by consultant psychiatrist Dr Benjamin Robinson from the Maudsley hospital subsequently showed removal could have fatal repercussions for Cothill, who came to Britain in 2014.

Robinson diagnosed Cothill as suffering from severe clinical depression and severe anxiety, which she had developed after realising she would be separated from her daughter.

“My prognosis should this process actually occur is as follows: Mrs Cothill’s mental state would rapidly decline, and this would be irreversible due to the causes of her depression; as a result her self-care would continue to decline, including loss of appetite, loss of food intake and further weight loss, and she would be very likely to die more quickly as a result ... she would herself thus be much more likely to die in the three months following removal,” he said.

As a result, the Home Office has reconsidered the case, stating: “Subject to final security checks and enrolment of biometrics, Mrs Cothill will be granted leave to remain without recourse to public funds.”

On hearing the news, Cothill said through tears: “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.”

Cothill’s application for leave to stay in the UK had been refused by a court last year and a bid to appeal against the decision was rejected, with the judge ruling that she was not a “person of credit” and had “obtained entry into the United Kingdom by deception and that she and her daughter arranged their affairs with the deliberate intention of making her removal difficult”.

Home Office officials had suggested that Wills could travel to South Africa, but she pointed out that she is a British passport-holder and has no right to live in the country. Her husband also has Parkinson’s disease and needs care.

The case caused a public outcry on Twitter, with the Green party leader, Natalie Bennett, the TV presenter Piers Morgan and many others decrying the Home Office decision to remove Cothill at her advanced age. A petition to “save Myrtle” received more than 150,000 signatures and a fund raised nearly £10,000.

Wills thanked her mother’s legal team and all those who had supported the family. “Words cannot explain how I am feeling. I am overwhelmed. It is the best Mother’s Day present we could have hoped for,” she said.

Jan Doerfel, Cothill’s barrister, said they would now be presenting the public petition to the government in a bid to change the current adult dependent relative rule. “This is fantastic news and long overdue. We are extremely delighted that all our efforts and hard work have paid off and that Myrtle and Mary can now celebrate Mother’s day together in the knowledge that she will not be removed to South Africa and can be cared for by her only daughter until the end of her days.

“What this amazing campaign has shown is that family values have won after a long battle. The unequivocal strength of sentiment expressed by over 151,000 people supporting a grant of leave for Myrtle and calling for a change of the law shows that the public does not support immigration rules which do not allow family members to care of and look after their vulnerable relatives.

“We are now hoping that the government has recognised the strength of feeling on this issue and will reverse the change to the adult dependant relative rule of July 2012 which is still causing untold suffering to so many people in Mary’s and Myrtle’s position.”