NC Widow Myrtle Cothill is facing deportation

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In a case that highlights deep flaws in our immigration system, Myrtle Cothill faces being split up from her family and kicked out of the UK. Her heartbreaking plight comes after her family made a honest mistake in her application for residency. Mrs Cothill’s devastated daughter now fears she will die alone in her native South Africa because Government pen-pushers have failed to show leniency and common-sense.

NC Mary Wills with frail mother Myrtle, who faces deportation

GETTY Daily Express columnist Ann Widdecombe

The treatment of the frail grandmother comes as thousands of asylum seekers remain in the UK at taxpayers expense while they wait for a decision on their futures and many illegal immigrants are working in the black economy. The injustice has prompted former Shadow Home Secretary and Daily Express columnist Ann Widdecombe to rally to her cause. Last night she demanded Home Secretary Theresa May seize control of the situation and allow seriously ill Mrs Cothill to stay here on compassionate grounds. Ms Widdecombe said: “This old lady has nobody to go back to in South Africa and needs someone to look after her. The Home Office is standing by the letter of the law, rather than its spirit. “She is now being hounded and threatened with deportation. She is living in a state of fear and it’s simply heartless and cruel.

GETTY Mrs Cothill received a Papal honour from Pope Benedict XVI

“Terrorists stay here because they claim a right to a family life. On every possible ground this lady should stay but she faces removal because there’s simply a culture of easy targets.” Mrs Cothill was brought here by her British family last year on a six-month visitor visa. But her health rapidly deteriorated so they decided to apply for her to stay permanently. Immigration rules make it clear visas cannot be swapped while the person is in the country they are visiting. The Home Office said if she wanted to remain she should have applied while she was in her native Natal in South Africa. They now want to put her on a plane and flown 8,000 miles so she can tick the boxes required for residency. But her health is so bad doubts remain whether she would survive the 12-hour flight. Mr Cothill’s desperate situation has shone a fresh light on a broken system that allows terrorists and rapists to stay in the UK because of their human rights but discriminates against others. Last night her tearful daughter pleaded for clemency and asked Ms May to allow her mother to see out her final years in the UK. Mary Wills said: “My mother is not going round beheading or shooting people she just wants to be here surrounded by people that love her.

GETTY Radical hate cleric Abu Qatada refused to leave the UK for 20 years