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| WW2 spy Violette Szabo's medals 'should stay in UK' | WW2 spy Violette Szabo's medals 'should stay in UK' |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| Gallantry medals won by a British secret agent in World War Two should be bought for the country, the founder of a museum set up in her name has said. | Gallantry medals won by a British secret agent in World War Two should be bought for the country, the founder of a museum set up in her name has said. |
| Violette Szabo was captured days after the D-Day landings and later killed. | Violette Szabo was captured days after the D-Day landings and later killed. |
| A Special Operations Executive (SOE) agent, her story was turned into a 1958 film Carve Her Name with Pride starring Virginia McKenna. | A Special Operations Executive (SOE) agent, her story was turned into a 1958 film Carve Her Name with Pride starring Virginia McKenna. |
| The medals, currently on display at the Violette Szabo museum in Herefordshire, are being auctioned on Wednesday. | The medals, currently on display at the Violette Szabo museum in Herefordshire, are being auctioned on Wednesday. |
| The five medals, including a posthumously awarded George Cross and French Croix De Guerre, are expected to raise up to £300,000. | The five medals, including a posthumously awarded George Cross and French Croix De Guerre, are expected to raise up to £300,000. |
| Rosemary Rigby, who founded the museum at Szabo's childhood holiday home at Wormelow, said they deserved to stay in the UK. | Rosemary Rigby, who founded the museum at Szabo's childhood holiday home at Wormelow, said they deserved to stay in the UK. |
| Violette Szabo, hero of the Resistance | |
| She was born in Paris in 1921 to an English father and French mother and moved to England with her family. | |
| At the outbreak of war she joined the land army, but enlisted with the SOE after the death of her French husband in 1942. | |
| Speaking fluent French she was trained as a field agent to work alongside the Resistance. | |
| In 1944, she was captured trying to disrupt the German response to the D-Day landings and was later shot at Ravensbruck concentration camp at the age of 23. | |
| She is one of only four women to be awarded the George Cross, since its establishment in 1940. | |
| She said the medals had been "so hard won" and it was important they stayed on display in the country "she fought and died for". | She said the medals had been "so hard won" and it was important they stayed on display in the country "she fought and died for". |
| Mrs Rigby said she hoped a private benefactor would come forward. | Mrs Rigby said she hoped a private benefactor would come forward. |
| She said it had been a "terrible shock" to learn of the secret agent's daughter Tania Szabo's intention to sell the medals, but she understood the move. | She said it had been a "terrible shock" to learn of the secret agent's daughter Tania Szabo's intention to sell the medals, but she understood the move. |