Thanks Douglas, here's what I'm doing

Private Sub Form_KeyDown(KeyCode As Integer, Shift As Integer)

   'intercept delete action and run some code to update the selected records
   
   Select Case KeyCode
       Case 46
       'If KeyCode is Delete
       x = UpdateSelectedRecs(Form_sfdtls)
   End Select

End Sub

Private Function UpdateSelectedRecs(f As Form)
   Dim i As Long
   Dim RS As Object
   Dim Criteria As String
 
   'Get the form and its recordset.
   
   Set RS = f.RecordsetClone
   
   If RS.RecordCount = 0 Then
       Set RS = Nothing
       Exit Function
   End If
       
   ' Move to the first record in the recordset.
   RS.MoveFirst

   'Move to the first selected record.
   RS.Move f.SelTop - 1

   ' Build the string
   For i = 1 To f.SelHeight
   
   If Criteria <> "" Then
       Criteria = Criteria & " OR "
   End If
   Criteria = Criteria & "[itemid]=" & RS.itemid
   RS.MoveNext
   Next i
   
   DoCmd.SetWarnings False
       DoCmd.RunSQL "UPDATE items SET items.[free] = True WHERE " &
Criteria, 0
   DoCmd.SetWarnings True
   
  Set RS = Nothing
   
End Function

Funny thing is, when the UpdateSelectedRecs has run and the Delete action
resumes, the records are locked and I receive the "you and another user are
attempting to change the same records at the same time" message.  When I OK
the message and hit Delete again, all works fine. I have found another
solution but would be interested to learn if there is some fix that would
free the object.

TIA, Simon