She was arrested in South Africa and was returned home as a "prohibited immigrant" in 1960 where she became a spokesperson for the anti-apartheid movement.

Her mother was Martha Grace (born Child) (1878–1953) and her father, Thomas Ernest Stanton, worked for the National Physics Laboratory becoming a Fellow of the Royal Society when she was a baby.

However the area was too popular for the liking of the authorities, but they struggled to find a legal basis for seizing the land as the residents had freehold properties.

[5] Stanton was arrested on 30 March 1960 and after a period of solitary confinement she found a new friend when she shared a cell with anti-apartheid activist Helen Joseph.

[6] Stanton's arrest was politically embarrassing and she was returned home as a "prohibited immigrant" in May 1960 where she became a spokesperson for the anti-apartheid movement.