Pictures show gunman raiding shop

A woman inside the jewellers was threatened by a gunman but not hurt Enlarge Image

Pictures have emerged of a gunman brandishing a weapon at a jewellery shop worker on the Isle of Wight.

A major air and land search was carried out after a gang raided Benzie yachting jewellery shop in the High Street, Cowes, on Friday afternoon.

German tourists were among eyewitnesses who saw the raid, and caught the robbery on camera.

The woman working inside the shop was threatened, but not injured. The men made off with 15 watches.

No shots were fired during the robbery. Police said the men were also carrying sledgehammers.

Ferry checks

The search for the men continued into Friday evening and officers were carrying out checks with Solent ferry operators.

Part of Cowes High Street remained sealed off during the evening to allow a forensic examination of the scene.

Rob Harris, who works in the Cowes Week office near the jewellers, said a colleague had spoken with two German women in the High Street who had witnessed the robbery.

Police are appealing for witnesses to the raid to come forward

They were on a day trip to the island when the raid happened, he told BBC News.

"They came into the Cowes Week office and we downloaded the pictures on to a computer, but they then left," he said.

The women said they had also shown the pictures to an officer at the scene, he added.

The robbers are said to have driven away along the one-way Cowes High Street in a grey Land Rover Freelander.

Detectives are investigating the discovery of a car with a similar description, abandoned at the nearby Northwood House car park in Cowes.

Police appealed for witnesses to come forward.