A LIFE-SIZED model of Stourbridge war hero Frank Foley has now been completed - with the artwork on track to be unveiled this summer.

Midlands’s artist Andy de Comyn has completed his full sized clay model of the spy, dubbed 'the British Schindler' - three months after being selected to produce the tribute.

Now set to be cast in bronze - the statue depicts Major Foley quietly seated on a park bench and feeding a bird, which symbolises freedom and the people he helped, with a briefcase at his side - hinting at his MI6 work.

Dudley North MP Ian Austin, who spearheaded the campaign for a permanent tribute - persuading the then Chancellor George Osborne to provide £40,000 to cover the costs, said: “I am delighted at the progress of the statue.

"The final piece should be ready by the summer so people can learn about him and our country’s role in fighting for freedom, democracy and tolerance against Nazi Germany. I can't wait until the final statue is unveiled."

Major Foley was a British spy working undercover as passport control officer in pre-war Nazi Berlin where he provided thousands of Jews with the papers they needed to escape Germany by bending the rules when stamping passports or issuing visas.

He also hid Jews in his own home and even went into Sachsenhausen concentration camp with visas to enable prisoners to leave.

Upon retirement, he setted in Stourbridge and lived at Eveson Road in Norton, close to Mary Stevens Park where the statue will be located, until his death in 1958.

Artist Mr De Comyn was selected by a panel comprising Stourbridge MP Margot James, representatives of Frank Foley’s family, the Holocaust Educational Trust which has supported the project, historian and journalist Michael Smith, who wrote 'Frank Foley: The Spy Who Saved Ten Thousand Jews' that brought Foley to prominence, plus councillors and residents - and the project and commission is being organised by Dudley's borough artist Steve Field.

The statue is set to be unveiled in Mary Stevens Park in June.