Campaign to stop codebreaker's papers falling into foreign hands

A set of reprints of papers belonging to the computer scientist, thought to be the most complete in the world, are to be sold at auction where it is feared a wealthy foreign bidder may buy them and move them out of Britain.

Turing, who is credited as a pioneer of the modern computer, was prosecuted for his homosexuality and died in disgrace in 1954.

Before his death he presented his friend and fellow codebreaker Professor Max Newman with a set of 15 offprints, which are expected to sell for up to half a million pounds at Christie's when they go up for sale tomorrow.

Gareth Halfacree, an independent supporter, has launched a campaign to raise money needed to purchase the collection for permanent public display at Bletchley Park. Wartime work there was kept secret, but since then it has emerged as one of the keys to the Allies' success because the work of its staff meant much German radio traffic could be intercepted and decoded.

Mr Halfacree said: "They belong in a dedicated museum but Bletchley Park can't afford the 300,000 to 500,000 guide price. As a result, I'm asking for volunteers to dig deep and see to it that these papers not only stay in this country but stay where the public can see them and benefit from them. Let's save them from being locked away in the vaults of a private collector."

William Newman, Max Newman's son, said: "The offprint collection's value derives mainly from its completeness; indeed it may be the most complete collection of Turing's works in the world.

"This has come about because Turing started to give offprints to Max Newman before he had published the Computable Numbers paper."