A medal and certificate have been presented to a pensioner for her help in breaking German military codes during the Second World War.

Doris Nicholls was presented with the items by MP Derek Wyatt at her home in Barkers Court, Sittingbourne.

The former Wren's involvement with the Engima decoding project only recently came to the attention of ward councillor Ghlin Whelan and local Labour chairman Roger Truelove.

But it was a parliamentary question put down by Mr Wyatt which confirmed that Mrs Nicholls was entitled to national recognition for the part she played in deciphering the codes.

The 86-year-old received training in Headingley in Leeds before being sent to an outpost station for supporting the decoding Enigma machine at the now famous Bletchley Park in Milton Keynes.

Security around the enigma project was so great that the Wrens would arrive for work in the presence of guards with loaded pistols. There were about 400 Wrens working on the project - all of whom worked in pairs and in shifts so the information was fed to Bletchley 24 hours a day via a teleprinter.

The decoding was so important to the war effort, that Winston Churchill deliberately recruited some of the country's outstanding brains, especially those with a university education in German, to use the enigma machines to decode German war plans.

Some of the information, such as the bombing of Coventry, was so sensitive that the Government was forced to disguise the fact that they could decode German plans.

The breaking of the codes is also credited with reducing the number of casualties at sea from German U-boat attacks.

Speaking of her award, Mrs Nicholls said: "I was very proud to receive them - it's been long overdue.

"It really is a very nice badge. I will wear it and get a frame for the certificate and hang it in my living room.

"My friend in Leicestershire who was also a Wren is due to receive her medal and certificate and she's over the moon about it too."

Enigma facts:

The Enigma cypher was the backbone of German military and intelligence communications.

Invented in 1918, it was initially designed to secure banking communications, but it achieved little success in that sphere.

However, the German military were quick to see its potential and they thought it to be unbreakable, and not without good reason.

Typing in a letter of plain German into the machine sent electrical impulses through a series of rotating wheels, electrical contacts and wires to produce the enciphered letter, which lit up on a panel above the keyboard.

By typing the resulting code into his own machine, the recipient saw the deciphered message light up letter by letter. The rotors and wires of the machine could be configured in many, many different ways.