Sister of war hero auctions medals on eBay



The sister of a war hero who died in Afghanistan sold his uniform and medals to an eBay trader.



Corporal Rob Deering left his elder sister everything in his will, including four war medals, his uniform and an engraved memorial shell casing from his funeral.



But Elaine Deering, a single mother of one, sold it all for £1,100.

Tragic: Corporal Rob Deering, killed in Afghanistan, with his sister Elaine, who later sold his medals

The 37-year-old, who is unemployed, said: ‘I’m on income support and I’m very hard up, so I did what I thought was best.’

Now the man who bought the mementos – which include medals from Corporal Deering’s service in Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as an International Security Assistance Force medal – has returned them to the hero’s long term partner Gemma Polino.



Corporal Deering, a Royal Marine with the Commando Logistic Regiment, died in December 2008 as he raced to help injured comrades whose armoured Viking personnel carrier had been blown up by insurgents.



The 33-year-old was killed in a second explosion as he approached the vehicle in Afghanistan’s notorious Helmand province. He left everything to his sister, who also claims she was forced to sell the mementos to help look after her 14-month-old son.



Miss Deering, of Sheldon, Birmingham, said her brother would have wanted her to sell the medals to support herself and her son, who she named after him.



Hero for sale: Corporal Deering, left, and his former fiancée Gemma Polino who was given back his medals by an eBay buyer after he discovered their story



Broke: Elaine Deering says she needed the money she raised from selling her dead brother's medals

‘When you’re on your own, have a child and are offered £1,100, it’s a tough thing to turn down,’ she said.



She added: ‘I regret the fact that I lost the medals and I would love to get them back one day. I loved my brother and miss him every day, but I wanted to give my son the best.’

In April Miss Deering put a number of stuffed birds up for sale on online auction website eBay. She was contacted by trader John Langley, who travelled from his home in Cheshire to buy them.

Then Miss Deering, in the presence of her mother Karen Waspe, offered him her brother’s medals, uniform and the shell casing, one of three fired over his coffin at a memorial service held in Camp Bastion, Afghanistan.



Mr Langley, 67, said: ‘As an ex-serviceman myself, I couldn’t believe the family of a fallen soldier who died in a war that was still going on would offer me his medals.





Memories: Gemma Polino and Cpl Deering on holiday in Turkey in August 2007

‘But I admit as a collector it was a once-in-a-lifetime deal. I knew I’d get a big price for them from other collectors. It’s unheard of to have a full set of medals and uniforms from a soldier who has only just died.’



Mr Langley was offered £4,000 for the collection by another trader, but turned it down after becoming uneasy about the sale.



He researched Corporal Deering and, when he learned the circumstances of his death, ‘felt sick’.



He tracked down the soldier’s partner and gave her the mementos for free. ‘I can’t believe a mother and daughter could part so easily with the medals of their dead son and brother,’ he added.



‘The bodies of these young lads are being flown home weekly in body bags, yet this woman sold her own brother’s medals.’

Yesterday Mrs Waspe, a 61-year-old nurse, said she regretted allowing her daughter to sell the medals. ‘Morally, she shouldn’t have sold them, but legally they’re her property and she can do what she likes with them,’ she said.

‘I wish I had just given her the money instead.’ Miss Polino was unavailable for comment yesterday.



She and Corporal Deering had been together for four-and-a-half years and were living-together when he departed for his final tour of Afghanistan.



The Deering family are involved in a legal dispute with Miss Polino over the soldier’s estate.



Miss Polino, 28, a carer, claims he drew up a second will in which he left everything to her.



She told the Daily Mail last year that he had left her his half-share of their £148,000 home in Sheldon, Birmingham, and the life insurance payout to cover the mortgage.



She said that he had drawn up a will in her presence but the will was lost by Army administrators before it could be sent for safekeeping to a documents handling centre.



The MoD insists it has no record of the will, and Miss Polino cannot inherit unless a will is found.