British school students 'stole Auschwitz artefacts'

Auschwitz Image copyright AP
Image caption The pupils from the independent Perse School in Cambridge were on a school trip to Auschwitz

Two British teenagers stole items including buttons and a rusted hair clipper from the Auschwitz death camp, a court in Poland has heard.

Guards at the site saw the pair pick up the items from the ground, the judge at a court in Krakow was told.

The pupils, from the independent Perse School in Cambridge, say they picked them up to show their guide.

They deny stealing artefacts of special cultural importance during a school visit in June 2015.

The court in Krakow heard the items were found on the students by police.

Image copyright Regional Police Command
Image caption Polish police released this picture of the items

The pupils were in an area of the Nazi death camp where the belongings of Jews who were sent to the gas chambers were kept, the court was told.

The court heard police also found a fragments of a spoon and glass on the pair, who were 17 at the time.

Initially they pleaded guilty to the charge and accepted a fine, but once back in the UK they changed their pleas.

If found guilty, they face prison sentences of up to 10 years.

The Nazis murdered 1.1 million people at Auschwitz in occupied Poland during World War Two.

The trial continues.