BOBBY Moore’s family is launching legal action to get his missing 1966 World Cup shirt back, The Sun can reveal.
The England legend’s ex-wife Tina and daughter Roberta said lawyers have suggested “urgent” court proceedings against private collector Neville Evans.
The Sun yesterday revealed bombshell claims that the top, said to be worth more than £1million, was part of his National Football Shirt Collection.
But Evans has refused to confirm or deny it, despite pressure from Tina, who says it vanished from the attic of their home in Chigwell, Essex, in the 1990s.
There is no suggestion the motorbike tyre tycoon acquired it illegally but a close relative told our source: “Neville has it.”
Last night the Moores revealed they had hired international dispute lawyers Candey to help get it back.
They said they have “brought a confidential legal action” and urged Evans to “tell us what he knows”.
Tina added: “Our lawyers have suggested we might want to consider bringing court proceedings against Neville Evans urgently.”
Evans, 61, who lives in a £2million mansion in Aberystwyth, West Wales, co-wrote Three Lions on a Shirt: The Official History of the England Football Jersey.
The FA, who commissioned it last year, contacted Tina to say Bobby’s top will be in it.
But the pic was pulled after a legal wrangle.
Tina, married to Bobby from 1962 to 1986, said last night: “It is without doubt a major breakthrough that someone has finally been identified who can help us determine the shirt’s actual whereabouts.”
However Evans’ associates could also shed no light on it.
Collection curator Simon Shakeshaft was said to be too unwell to come to the door at his home in Hertfordshire.
His wife Tracey told The Sun: “It’s a mystery isn’t it?”
Evans’ co-author Daren Burney, a property developer from Essex, said: “I have nothing to say on the matter.”
Bobby, who played 108 times for England, died in 1993 aged 51.
