Soldier's parents horrified to learn son's widow had sold medal online

Hero soldier's parents forced to buy back his posthumous gallantry medal after his widow sells it on Gumtree for just £500 - without even telling them
Daily Mail
By KERRY MCDERMOTT
29 July 2013

Fusilier Simon Annis, 22, killed by a bomb in Helmand in 2009
Wife Caroline presented with posthumous Elizabeth Cross as next of kin
Soldier's parents horrified to learn son's widow had sold medal online
Pete and Ann Annis have bought it back from new owner for £2,457
Soldier's widow is understood to be in a new relationship

'Insulting': Fusilier Annis' morther Ann said she would
have re-mortgaged
her house to get her son's medal back

The parents of a young soldier killed in Afghanistan have told of their disgust after his widow sold a medal honouring his sacrifice on Gumtree.

Fusilier Simon Annis' wife Caroline was presented with the posthumous Elizabeth Cross - given to the next of kin of soldiers killed in action - after he died in an explosion in Helmand in 2009 at just 22.

She has now been branded 'callous' by the soldier's parents, after she sold it for £500 through the website without even offering it to them.

The couple have now paid out £2,457 to its new owner in order to get their son's Elizabeth Cross back.

'It's as if my boy's life meant nothing to her,' Ann Annis told the newspaper, adding: 'It was terribly insulting that she didn't offer us the medal instead of sneakily selling it.'

Simon, from Irlam in Salford, who served with 2nd Battalion, Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, and Caroline had been married for just a few months when he was killed while on duty.
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