Burglars broke into the home of French Resistance heroine Andree Peel shortly after her death.

Mrs Peel, who died last week aged 105, helped save more than 100 Allied pilots and spent her final years in Long Ashton.

Friends said Mrs Peel's house in the village had been broken into after she died at a care home.

Her friend Martin Fisher said the burglary was "despicable".

Known as Agent Rose, Mrs Peel helped dozens of British and US pilots escape from occupied Europe.

She moved to England after meeting her future husband John Peel.

Mr Fisher discovered the break-in, which is believed to have happened some time between midday on Wednesday and late on Thursday afternoon and he said: "The police said it was despicable that anybody could even consider such a thing.

"Because it was reported locally and nationally, a lot of people realised the house was empty."

Police attended and made the house secure before returning on Friday to investigate further, he said.

Gerald Gregory, 81, a neighbour and friend of Mrs Peel, said: "Never mind the fact she was a war hero, stealing from the dead is low.

"It made me mad when I found out. The lock was shattered by the force.

"I had the police here the day after it happened trying to get details."

He said copies of Mrs Peel's autobiography, Miracles do Happen, were among the stolen items.

She was awarded a second Legion d'Honneur last year in recognition of her bravery.

Mrs Peel – who was liberated by US soldiers from Buchenwald concentration camp as she was about to be murdered by a Nazi firing squad – was living at the Lampton House care home in Long Ashton at the time of her death on March 5.