IT'S been stolen once, so you would think they would take a little more care looking after it.

But when North Yorkshire security boffin Colin Simpson saw the famous Enigma decoding machine, he knew he could do a better job of keeping it safe.

"I was on a trip to Bletchley Park, where they used the Enigma machine, because they're opening up a little hut to show it as it looked in wartime," said Colin.

"But I saw the security they had there, and said, 'I could do that better'.

"They told me to put my money where my mouth was, so I did."

A few months down the line, Colin's Skelton-based firm, Baymont Alarms, is now providing the security system for the machine in a major exhibition starting next month. The Abwehr Enigma machine was used by the Germans to decipher their "indecipherable" code, before the British cracked it.

A team of codebreakers - many of them crossword fanatics - worked round the clock at Bletchley Park, near Milton Keynes, to work it out. The mansion became known as "Station X", and to this day, those who worked there are wary of discussing it.

The Enigma machine hit the headlines two years ago, when it was stolen on April 1 as a prank, and sent to BBC Newsnight presenter Jeremy Paxman.

It is this audacious theft which forms the heart of the new exhibition. Mr Paxman himself will open the display on April 1, two years to the day since the theft. A Bletchley Park spokeswoman said: "There are only three of these machines in the world that we know of, and the theft brought this one new fame. Obviously, the machine needed good security, and Baymont have provided it."

Colin's system is being kept fairly hush-hush for obvious reasons, although he said it involves infra-red security beams and "audio verification".

The saga of Enigma has also inspired two recent films. Enigma, starring Dougray Scott and Kate Winslet, garnered critical praise, while U-571, which appeared to claim that Americans were behind the victory over Enigma, came in for a heavy slating from British critics. For more details on the exhibition, ring Bletchley Park on 01908 640404, or visit www.bletchleypark.org.uk

Updated: 10:20 Saturday, March 23, 2002