A UNIQUE artefact crafted by a prisoner of war has been donated to Eden Camp Museum in Malton.

The fire screen was made out of a variety of materials, including old socks, by Squadron Leader Robert Louis Roberts, a navigator on Lancasters during the Second World War.

Eden Camp museum archivist Jonny Pye said Sqd Ldr Roberts has been shot down over Berlin on December 24, 1943, but managed to escape and was ‘rescued’ a few days later by a woodcutter who took him home and fed and watered him.

“Unfortunately he was not as ‘friendly’ as at first thought and a few days later the SS knocked on the door and Robert was taken away,” he said.

“Because he was in ‘best blues’ they thought he was a spy and was taken to Dachau where he stayed for about three months before being transferred to Stalag Luft, where he helped to dig various tunnels.”

Robert’s parents were told he was dead, but some time later heard via the 'Lord Haw Haw' list that had Flt Lt R L Roberts as a prisioner of war.

Jonny said: “The fire screen was used by Robert to keep warm during the ‘Long March’ at the end of the war. He was ‘liberated’ by the Russians and forced to join a Russian Tank Regiment and subsequently awarded the Russian Red Star, returning to the UK towards the end of 1945.”

Jonny said Robert had died in 1976 and the fire screen had been donated to the museum by his wife Helen.

“It was brought to us by Sqd Ldr Robert Ankerson and his wife Christine who knows Mrs Roberts through her work with SSAFA,” he said.

“Sqd Ldr Ankerson was himself a prisoner of war for 40 days after he was shot down while flying a Tornado GR1 917 Squadron RAF over Iraq on January 24, 1991”.

Jonny said: “This will be a unique addition to Eden Camp’s collection of POW arts and crafts which is already the most comprehensive display of its type in the world.”