When a renowned military family bequeathed a set of gallantry medals to their local Army museum they might have imagined visitors pausing to reflect on the brave deeds carried out by their relatives in the name of Queen and country.

After all, the collection included two of the highest awards for valour in action to be presented to British servicemen.

One was a prestigious Distinguished Service Order, awarded to Major General Henry Osborne Curtis, a veteran of both world wars.

Another was the Military Cross, awarded to his son, Brigadier Peter Curtis, for taking a German held ridge in Tunisia in 1943.

It therefore came as a shock when Major Curtis’s own granddaughter discovered that the originals medals, donated to the Royal Green Jackets Museum in Winchester, appeared to have been suspiciously substituted for duplicates.