Ronan Keating: Autographed undies

Mother-of-three Justine Bearman, 33, even had to ask her bank manager for the go-ahead to complete the deal.

She bid for the light-blue autographed Yves St Laurent boxer shorts in a charity event.

Then she went to her NatWest branch in Falmouth, Cornwall to extend her overdraft by �1,000, so she could pay for them.

Mrs Bearman said: "The bank knew what the money was for."

Her bid was the highest for any of the items sold on the Pirate FM radiothon - easily beating the �800 paid for a Michael Owen football shirt.

Mrs Bearman's craving for Keating memorabilia stems from her childhood in Dublin, where her younger sister lived on the same estate as Keating.

She said: "I have always been a Ronan fan. He was always the one I lusted after in Boyzone.

"I was only going to go up to �500 when another man came in and bid �1,000.

"There was no way he was going to get them."

Nick Lake, chairman of the Pirate Trust, Pirate FM's charity wing, said he was "absolutely staggered" at Mrs Bearman's bid.

"There was healthy bidding going on, and the trouble she went to get them was quite extraordinary," he said.

The event raised a total of �58,000 for charity.