Sister sells brother's medals to go on a cruise

The sister of a British war hero who died in Afghanistan sold his uniform and medals on eBay so she could go on a luxury cruise. 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. His sister, Elaine Deering, a single mother with a small son, sold it all for around $2000 and put the money towards a cruise around the Mediterranean. The unemployed mother said "I'm on income support and I'm very hard up, so I did what I thought best".


Now the man who bought the items - 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 soldier's fiancee Gemma Polino.

Gemma and the Deering family are involved in a legal dispute over Rob's estate. She and Corporal Deering had been together for four and a half years and were living together when he left for Afghanistan. She claims her fiancee drew up a second will in which he left her everything, but it was lost by Army administrators before it could be sent for safe-keeping to a documents holding centre. Unless a copy of the will can be found, Miss Polino cannot inherit anything from his estate.

The Medals

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. Deering was killed in a second blast as he approached the vehicle in Afghanistan's notorious Helmand province.

Gemma and Rob

His sister said she sold them because she was depressed and needed a break. 'I regret the fact that I lost the medals and 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'.

Rob and and his sister Elaine Deering

The man who bought the medals said 'I admit as a collector it was a once in a lifetime deal. I knew I'd get a big price for them. It's unheard of to have a full set of medals and uniforms from a soldier who has only just died'. But he decided against selling them and tracked down Deering's fiancee and gave her the medals without charge. 'I can't believe a mother and daughter could part so easily with the medals of their dead son and brother' he said.

Deering's mother, a 61 year old nurse was present when he daughter offered the collector the medals for money. 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. Hard to believe that the British Army allowed this to happen. Surely every soldier should have his will safely recorded and stored in a safe place well before he sets foot into enemy territory.