Manchester United star Duncan Edwards' letters to fiancee to be sold

Auctioneer Graham Budd said the couple were "elegant", "smartly dressed" and "photogenic"

Letters and photos sent by Manchester United's Duncan Edwards to his fiancee before he was killed in the Munich air disaster are to be sold at auction.

Edwards and 22 others were fatally injured when the plane carrying the United team crashed as it took off from the German city on 6 February 1958.

Molly Leech, who died in 2004, was at his bedside when he succumbed to his injuries 15 days later, aged 21.

Her daughters said she "always spoke about him with great affection".

Edwards, who was born in Dudley in the West Midlands, already had 18 caps for England and was tipped as a future captain when he died.

He was part of a United team nicknamed the Busby Babes, a title that honoured both their youthful achievements and their legendary manager, Sir Matt Busby.

The overnight bag Edwards used, which was pulled from the wreckage of the disaster, will be sold

The collection include letters in which Edwards refers to his fiancee as "Dear Molly" and "Dear Pet"

One of Ms Leech's daughters, who have asked to remain anonymous, said they had first met "one Saturday evening at Ringway Airport, which is now Manchester Airport".

"She came from Manchester and worked in an office there, they were very much in love but very private and ordinary people," she said.

"They enjoyed playing cards and tennis, he liked fishing - she always spoke about him with great affection."

She added that she could not imagine "what my mother must have gone through when she had to go to Munich".

"It was such a sad and awful part of her life - she was just 22."

The Munich air disaster

• The crash, on 6 February 1958, happened as a plane tried to take off after refuelling in Germany as United returned from a European Cup tie in Belgrade

• Eight players, three club staff, eight journalists, two crew members and two passengers were killed

• Club legend Sir Bobby Charlton, who was 20 at the time, suffered head injuries, while manager Sir Matt Busby was left in a critical condition and had the last rites given to him

• The plane's co-pilot Ken Rayment was the final victim, dying 23 days after the crash

Among the collection being sold are letters from well-wishers, photographs, football programmes and a family album, filled with photos of the footballer's Manchester United and England career.

Edwards' overnight bag, which was pulled from the wreckage of the disaster and given to his fiancee after she arrived in Germany to be at his side, is also being auctioned, along with two letters from Edwards to Ms Leech during his national service, in which he refers to her as "Dear Molly" and "Dear Pet".

Northamptonshire-based auctioneer Graham Budd, who is selling the items on 8 and 9 March said their story was "so poignant and sad".

"They had everything going for them - they were an elegant, smartly dressed, photogenic young couple," he said.

"The items in this sale are so personal and it is a privilege to have been asked by Molly's daughters to sell them."