Swayze's Dirty Dancing jacket sells for £48,000 despite niece's call to stop sale

A leather jacket worn by Patrick Swayze in Dirty Dancing has fetched £48,260 at auction despite calls from his niece for the sale to be stopped.

The late Hollywood star's widow Lisa Niemi said she had "mixed feelings" as she sold hundreds of his items in Los Angeles on Friday, including a silk shirt he wore in Ghost.

She said she wanted to share Swayze's memorabilia with his fans but refused to comment on opposition from his niece Danielle Swayze, who described the auction as a "slap in the face".

Swayze, who died from pancreatic cancer in 2009 aged 57, wore the black leather jacket in 1987's Dirty Dancing.

It was bought by a Hollywood memorabilia collector, who gave his name only as Glenn.

Ms Niemi, who was married to Swayze for 34 years said "I have a lot of mixed feelings.

"No matter what, it's still a letting go. There's always a little bit of loss associated with that.

"While it's a very positive thing to do, it's a difficult thing to do.

"I'm such a lucky woman to have had a man who loved me as much as Patrick did," she said.

Swayze's other belongings on sale included a surfboard from action thriller film Point Break, which sold for £49,410, a torn t-shirt he wore in the 1991 movie fetched £17,370.

His maroon silk shirt and Reebok trainers from 1990 film Ghost went for £13,385, while the actor's DeLorean car was sold for £62,700.

One of Swayze's teeth and a set of X-ray images showing his knee and broken leg was also bought for £4,940.

Ms Niemi, who remarried in 2014 to jeweller Albert DePrisco, said she decided to auction Swayze's items when she moved out of their New Mexico ranch where they had lived for 30 years.

She added that a grief counsellor had also advised her that auctioning off the items "would be really healthy for you".

"I could have put it all into storage but nobody would have seen it and nobody would have enjoyed it," Ms Niemi said.

"Every item holds so much memory and so much history. It's important to me for people to know they're not just empty objects. They really hold a life.

"Of course the most personal and sentimental items I have kept."

Ms Niemi said some of the money raised from the auction will be donated to the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network.

Swayze's niece Danielle had called for Friday's sale to be stopped and set up an online petition, which attracted nearly 1,500 signatures.

She said: "These were family heirlooms.

"It's a slap in the face that she's selling these precious memories."