Gareth Halfacree, a freelance writer and a supporter of the Bletchley Park Trust, has launched a campaign to raise £500,000 to acquire a large collection of Second World War code-breaker Alan Turing papers.

Halfacree wants the papers to remain in the country by donating them to Bletchley Park, where Turing deciphered German military's encoded messages during the Second World War.

The collection in question is comprised of 15 of the code-breaker's 18 published papers, which were assembled by his colleague and friend Max Newman.

Auction house Christie's said it expected the auction of the Turing's works to fetch between £300,000 and £500,000. The auction will take place on 23rd of November.

But, the fund raising campaign has so far collected only around £15,000 and that is mainly owing to a secret donation of £10,000.

Speaking on the topic, he said, "I'm asking for volunteers to dig deep and see to it that these papers not only stay in this country but stay where the public can see them and benefit from them."

He added that he wanted to save the papers from becoming a personal property of a private collector.

Bletchley Park in Buckinghamshire, a museum dedicated to wartime code-breakers, will make a bid for the papers if sufficient money is raised.