MASKED robbers armed with a sledgehammer raided a North Yorkshire jewellery store.

Two men dressed in black and wearing masks or balaclavas threatened staff with the weapon at Fattorini’s jewellery store, in Harrogate, at about 10.30am today, before stealing several items of high-value jewellery. No-one was hurt.

The men then got into a silver Vauxhall Astra parked opposite the store, and a third man drove them away.

CCTV footage shows the Astra drove off along Parliament Street, Parliament Terrace, Montpellier Street and Montpellier Hill, before entering Valley Drive and being abandoned in Valley Road, Harrogate. The Astra has since been recovered by police.

It cut across the paths of several other cars in Parliament Street and police are appealing for the drivers of those cars to come forward.

They are also urging anyone who was in Valley Road or Valley Drive this morning and saw the Astra arrive in the street, or saw any other suspicious vehicles in Valley Road to contact them urgently.

Witnesses are asked to phone Detective Inspector Maria Taylor of Harrogate CID on 101 or to phone Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.