A RARE photograph of the Beatles with all four band members’ signatures found in a Thorpe Bay loft has been sold at auction for £5,000 - almost triple what was expected.

The picture, taken with the Fab Four played to a sell-out audience at the old Odeon cinema in Southend during a sell-out tour of 1963, yesterday went to a Swiss online bidder within minutes.

The picture once belonged to the then cinema manager Arthur Levenson, who asked the young musicians to sign a large official picture taken by “band snapper” Derek Cross.

It later passed to his son Martin, who had been taken to the performance by his grandparents as a nine-year-old.

Mr Levenson, 62, recently decided to declutter of his home in Thorpe Bay and made the find before calling Stacey’s auctioneers in Rayleigh.

The picture, which had a pre-sale price of £1,500 to £2,000, exceeded all expectations.

Mr Levenson was unable to attend the auction, but when the Echo broke the good news to him he said: “Good God! We coudn’t go to the auction so this is a very pleasant surprise. It’s well beyond the amount we talked about. It’s a bit of a surprise.

“We would have been happy to get the figure agreed. I’m really taken aback but very pleased.”

In September last year a signed menu and photographs from when the Beatles dined at Le Talbooth in Colchester sold for £4,100 – 20 times the expected sale price.

Rob Smee, Stacey’s rock and pop specialist, said: “Two online bidders battled it out. There were a few people bidding but when it got to a certain level a few people dropped out but were keen to see what it went for.

“I started at a low level and the internet did the rest.”