Appeal to solve mystery of 'gold mine' WW2 suitcase

"My first reaction was to get it back to the family because I thought it was a gold mine."

Steve Gray found a suitcase dating back to World War Two inside a derelict house in Whitwell, Derbyshire, about 20 years ago.

It is full of letters, documents, photos and postcards that appear to belong to the Costa family, who Mr Gray is now trying to track down ahead of this year's VE Day - marking 80 years since the end of World War Two in Europe.

However, the letters and documents inside the suitcase relate to events that happened in the South East of England and Mr Gray has struggled to find the family's link to North East Derbyshire.

Mr Gray said: "If it belonged to my family, I would want it because there is lots and lots of historical stuff here.

"My overall goal here is to return it to the family because that is where it rightfully belongs."

Back in the 2000s, Mr Gray ran a pub called the Jug and Glass in Whitwell and the derelict building where it was found was opposite the pub.

The house has since been refurbished but there does not seem to be any link between the house and the Costa family.

The paperwork shows that one member of the family was a soldier who was fighting for Britain in North Africa.

It also shows that the family owned a property in London that they had let to the Dutch authorities so they could train members of the Dutch Resistance during the war.

But there are also more personal items in it like a postcard that was sent from a holiday in Tewkesbury in Gloucestershire.

David Ellis, from the Whitwell History Group, said he could not find any record of a Costa family living in the village.

He said: "The documentation seems to point to a family member carrying this suitcase, moving around the country maybe, and they seemed to have just abandoned it in our village.

"It's got to have been a family member that has selected certain items and put them in the suitcase."

He added there was a big timespan between the documents because some of them were from the mid-1960s. There is also paperwork from the 1990s but Mr Ellis thinks this is separate to the material belonging to the Costa family.

The pair are continuing to hunt for any members of the Costa family so the suitcase can be returned.

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