Staff praised for foiling Ilkley armed raid (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Staff praised for foiling Ilkley armed raid

9:25pm Thursday 7th June 2012 in Ilkley

The manager of a jewellers has praised his staff after an armed robbery at the shop was thwarted.

Sam Brown, manager at Lister Horsfall in Brook Street, Ilkley, said staff quickly managed to get a metal shutter down to stop the raid by sledgehammer-wielding robbers on Wednesday.

The masked raiders fled empty-handed after failing to gain entry to the shop, in the second raid on the store in the past nine months.

Last September, robbers gained entry through the front door and stole about £400,000 of watches and jewellery. Following the incident new security measures were installed and helped to prevent a repeat.

Mr Brown said he was pleased no-one was injured in the incident shortly after 10am.

“I’m really pleased with how the staff reacted in getting the grill down over the door,” he said. “We’re all really happy that the improvements we have made stopped the robbers getting in.”

He urged anyone with information to pass it on to West Yorskhire Police.

Detectives investigating the incident are appealing for information about a stolen car, with fake number plates, used by the would-be thieves to make their getaway.

The grey BMW X1 had been stolen from Bradford between May 24 and 25.

Detective Inspector Richard Partis, of Airedale and North Bradford CID, said yesterday: “Officers were on the scene very quickly following this attempted robbery and have also now recovered the stolen BMW X1 4x4-style vehicle used in the offence, which was carrying registration plates AU61 SB0.

“We are very keen to hear from anyone who has seen this car being driven around the Bradford area since it was stolen, or who has seen it in the Ilkley area recently.”

Contact Airedale and North Bradford CID on 101 or CrimeStoppers in confidence on 0800 555 111.