Family at war over Para hero’s medals
Daughter’s fight to stop mum selling Falklands honours
SHE was only four when her hero father was killed in the Battle of Goose Green in the Falklands.
Paratrooper Gary Bingley was shot as he stormed an Argentine machine gun nest in an act of bravery described as ‘instrumental in defeating the enemy’.
Zoe Bingley was too young to understand when her mother Jayne proudly showed her his Military Medal after collecting it from the Queen at Buckingham Palace. Now mother and daughter are at war over the sale of the medals, which are due to go under the hammer at London auction house Spink and Son today.
Last night the heartbroken daughter – now married and called Zoe McKay – made a final plea to keep the medals in the family.
Mrs McKay – who is estranged from her mother – is desperately trying to raise £70,000 to buy them after her mother, now Jay Hyrons, 60, decided to part with them to fund her battle with ill health.
Her daughter said: ‘My dad gave his life and the medals should remain part of his family. Apart from the picture in the press when the medals were given, I have never even been allowed to see them since. The relationship with my mum is complex. I have not seen her since I was 14.
‘I don’t want to turn this into a slagging match and lose my dignity. I did try to contact her when I heard about the sale. I asked her to delay and give the family a chance to buy them.’
Mrs McKay, a mother of two now living in Brisbane, Australia, added: ‘My dad was my hero and a hero of the United Kingdom. This year he would have been 60.
‘I have missed him my whole life, and am deeply saddened that despite our differences my mum did not offer the family the chance to buy them first.’
Her father, a lance-corporal in D Company of the 2nd battalion, Parachute Regiment, died aged 24 on May 28, 1982, the same day as his commanding officer, Colonel Herbert ‘H’ Jones, who was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross for his part in the ferocious battle. After collecting the medal, his grieving widow said of her daughter: ‘When she’s older, I’ll be able to tell her all about her hero daddy and give her his medals. Gary thought the world of her. It’s so sad he won’t see her grow up.’
Yesterday L/ Cpl Bingley’s younger brother, Steve, 49, of Hythe, Kent – himself a former soldier – said: ‘Small things like medals become a symbol to those that are left behind that these brave deeds are remembered, appreciated Gary’s would widow be and stated passed are that to not Zoe. the in medals vain. This was always expected. However, Zoe and her mother became distant, as Zoe was a real handful, and was taken on board by her aunt.
‘My brother’s medals were awarded by law to his next of kin, Gary’s wife. However, she lost contact with our family after Gary’s death.
‘We bear no hatred or bad will towards Jay, but find it difficult to understand why we were not given the within Military chance our Medal, family.’ to retain the As lot the well includes medals as the L/Cpl Bingley’s Northern Ireland Medal, South Atlantic 1982 Medal and General Service Medal. Last night Miss Hyrons said: ‘If [the Mail] wants to know anything about me and the respect I have for my husband, just Google my name.’ In an online blog, she has written of how she has reconnected with the Paras and started raising money for military charities.