Clues into mystery WW2 suitcase following appeal

A man says he is a step closer to finding out how a mysterious suitcase from World War Two ended up in his village, thanks to help from across the country.

Steve Gray found the suitcase in Whitwell, Derbyshire, and contacted the BBC in a bid to find some answers, because he wanted to return it to the family that it belonged to.

Since then, people have been in touch about the suitcase that Mr Gray said contained a "gold mine" of information including letters, a postcard and photos.

He has found there are likely to be surviving descendants of the family still living in this country in and around London - but he is still trying to find out why the suitcase was left in Whitwell.

Earlier this month, Mr Gray told the BBC he wanted to find out more about the suitcase as the 80th anniversary of VE Day was approaching.

He said: "I found this case in the early 2000s, so it has progressed far further than I could have got it.

"I came to a brick wall. I just gave up with it - but it has resurrected itself."

There are official business letters and documents in the case but also family photos and postcards, so Mr Gray is keen to keep working to find descendants of these artefacts.

"If it was something that related to my family and somebody had got this information, I'd be over the moon to receive it," he added.

The documents appear to belong to the Costa family and David Ellis, from the Whitwell History Group, has been looking for relatives of those mentioned in the documents.

People have since contacted Mr Ellis with information about the Costa family, including Robert Morfitt, a genealogist from Wales.

Mr Ellis has also been using a genealogy website, and the evidence he has gathered suggests that descendants of the family could be living in Kent, London, Nice in France and Florence in Italy.

The suitcase was found in a building opposite the Jug and Glass pub, and Mr Ellis is trying to track down people in the village who can remember what the building was used for.

Mr Ellis added the response to this appeal had been "extremely encouraging" and the descendants would "have a field day" with the information in the suitcase.

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