at the South African embassy, waived his diplomatic immunity and stood surety. Then, following an alleged intervention from the prime minister's office, they applied to a Judge sitting in Chambers to recover their passports. In May 1984, Judge Leonard granted the request and allowed the Coventry Four to travel to South Africa, on condition that they undertook to return to Britain for their trial. Salt was given a 10-month jail sentence and fined £25,000 for his part in the operation, while the UK companies involved paid fines of £193,000. Controversial visit In June 1984, British prime minister Margaret Thatcher controversially invited South Africa's president P.W. Botha and foreign minister Pik Botha to a meeting at Chequers in an effort to stave off growing international pressure for the imposition of economic sanctions against South Africa, where both the U.S. and Britain had invested heavily. Although not officially on the meeting's agenda, the Coventry Four affair clouded both the proceedings at Chequers and Britain's bilateral diplomatic relations with South Africa. In August 1989, British diplomat Patrick Haseldine was dismissed for publicly criticising the UK government in the press over the release of the four suspects. Quid pro quo In August 1984, when anti-apartheid activists – threatened with arrest in South Africa – took refuge in the British consulate in Durban, Pik Botha decided to retaliate by refusing to allow the Coventry Four to return to Britain to stand trial. Foreign Office minister, Malcolm Rifkind, reported to the House of Commons that the South African government was wholly to blame for the men's non-appearance in a British court, and that Pretoria should cooperate. In the event the men did not come back to stand trial and no action was taken against South Africa. The £200,000 bail money was thus forfeited by the South African embassy. See also Gerald Bull, imprisoned for smuggling artillery technology to South Africa South Africa and weapons of mass destruction Vela incident References South African criminals History of Coventry South Africa–United Kingdom relations Arms trafficking Boycotts of apartheid South Africa South Africa and the Commonwealth of Nations United Kingdom and the Commonwealth of Nations