Thieves chased out of Northwich antique shop by owner after attempted robbery

• CCTV footage captured the moment two thieves were chased out of QC Antiques

CCTV footage captured the moment two thieves were chased out of an antique shop after attempting to steal thousands of pounds worth of items.

Owner of QC Antiques, Andrew Icely, was talking with a customer when the masked robbers burst into the shop with iron bars in their hands.

Despite being threatened, Andrew started to throw items towards the thieves to drive them out of his shop.

He said: "The cost of that is about £5,000, but what can you do? I'd rather smash them up than let them steal off me".

Andrew said: "I was stood there talking to a customer and I noticed two people run past me very fast and I turned around and they were all masked up and I noticed they had iron bars in their hands."

The pair then ran towards a cabinet with £30,000 worth of silver inside, before smashing it open in front of Andrew and his customer.

Andrew said: "I thought no, they're not having that, so I just hit them with everything I could hit them with.

"They ran towards the door, I chased one down the road, but my asthma kicked in and I couldn't chase him any further.

"I work seven days a week, I don't have any time off, I don't have any holidays, I work hard for what I have - and they're not having that from me - that's what was going through my head".

The 63-year-old has been working in the antique market since he was 11 years old.

He said: "I've not experienced anything like that before, apart from what you see on TV

"Blakemere is a family run business, and we never get any behaviour like that in here at all"

Cheshire Police were called to reports of an attempted robbery at 12:55pm on Thursday 8 August, and are continuing their investigation.

They are appealing for witnesses, who may be able to assist with the investigation with any footage, to come forward.

DS James Elliott said: “This occurred in the middle of the day and even if people may not have witnessed the incident itself, we’re urging those who were in the area to think about whether they saw anything suspicious either before or after the incident.

“The same goes for anyone who may have captured footage which could aid our ongoing investigation.”

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