Peter Mayhew's Star Wars items pulled from auction

Peter Mayhew's 'Star Wars' memorabilia has been pulled from auction.

Ryedale Auctioneers had been about to put many of the actor's personal items from his years of portraying Chewbacca in the sci-fi franchise – including scripts, call sheets and signed photos – under the hammer but the sale has now been prevented after his widow Angie Mayhew's public pleas.

The Peter Mayhew Foundation posted on Twitter: "Started our morning on Zoom with @AngusAshworth from @RyedaleAuction1 and communicated our desire that Peter's items be returned to Angie and the Mayhew family. Will keep everyone posted as progress is made – thank you for the continued support!"

The auction house had received the items from a couple who had moved into Peter's old home in Northern Ireland and found them in the attic.

The new tenants claimed that they did not know that the memorabilia had once belonged to the giant actor – who died at the age of 74 in 2019 – and had "unwittingly" submitted it for auction.

Angie had suggested that a sale would have left her heartbroken as her late husband, who played Chewbacca in five 'Star Wars' movies, had attempted to get the keepsakes in the attic before his death but was unable to do so because of serious knee issues that restricted his mobility.

An earlier post of the Foundation's account read: "When we moved out of this house, Peter's movement challenges made it impossible for him to get into the attic to get the rest of these memories.

"It really breaks my heart to see our belongings auctioned off like this by (auction house founder) Angus Ashworth and Ryedale Auctioneers."

Angie added: "It was one of Peter's and my biggest regrets that we had to leave these items behind. His knees and joints had gotten to be so painful that he was no longer able to go into the attic to get them."

She had been hoping to take ownership of the items again in order to put them on display at the family's 'Chewy' museum in Texas.