A WOMAN battling to ensure letters written by a County Durham serial killer while in prison go on public display has been given a new deadline to raise the cash needed to buy them.

Victoria House appealed for help to find £4,000 after an internet search revealed the eight notes penned by Mary Ann Cotton, of West Auckland, were up for sale on eBay.

Cotton is notorious for killing an estimated 22 people by arsenic poisoning and was hanged after her conviction at Durham Assizes in 1873 for murdering her stepson, but her other victims included her children, husbands and boyfriends, many of whom had insurance policies.

The letters were written from her prison cell as she awaited execution.

Miss House had been given just days to find the £4,000 the seller wanted, however, this has now been extended until Sunday, February 23.

“I really don’t want these letters to be wasted,” said Miss House, who is originally from Hartlepool but now lives in Oxford. “They need to be on show in Durham County Records Office. I have had been offering to donate small amounts but not the £4,000 needed.

“I just don’t know what else I can do but I am not giving up yet.”

Anyone able to help Miss House should message her on her Facebook page Mary Ann Cotton Letters from Jail 1873.