The expert Charles Hanson was left gobsmacked as a number of hugely important artefacts were sold for a "record-breaking" amount. Papers written by famous codebreaker Alan Turing, who famously worked at Bletchley Park deciphering German codes, have sold for an eye-watering £465,000 after they were almost shredded.

The papers, estimated to have been written in the 1930s, were found in a loft and feature a copy of Turing's PhD dissertation. They were originally gifted to Norman Routledge, Turing's friend and fellow mathematician. They were sold at Hansons Auctioneers in Etwall in Derbyshire, with one paper alone being sold for a "remarkable" £208,000. star Charles Hanson was left "astonished" when the documents were produced during a valuation event in Nottinghamshire.

"To think these precious papers could've been lost to the shredder and now they will go on to educate and inspire generations," he said.

"Turing was a man ahead of his time, and through these pages, he lives on."

Mr Hanson added the buyer was "absolutely over the moon" with the purchases.

Mr Routledge's niece said the papers were untouched for years following his death in 2013, as she admitted she and her other sisters "considered shredding everything" until they checked with the rest of the family.

Hansons' sister-company Rare Book Auctions valued both of the papers at between £40,000 and £60,000, but the dissertation, called Systems of Logic Based on Ordinals, sold for £110,500.

Other items were sold for between £7,800 and £28,600 respectively, adding up to the whopping amount of £465,000.

Jim Spencer, director of Rare Book Auctions, said: "This was the most important archive I've ever handled.

"The papers came within inches of being destroyed, and instead they've captured the world's imagination. It's a once-in-a-lifetime discovery - not just for collectors, but for the sake of preserving the story of one of the greatest minds in history."

Antiques Roadshow airs Sundays at 8pm on BBC1.