CCTV released to help catch thieves involved one of highest value art heists the country has ever seen

  • Watch Charlotte Briere-Edney's report

Credit: Crimewatch Live on BBC One weekday mornings from 11am until Friday, 26th March.

A year on from a daring art heist in the heart of Oxford, police are appealing to the public for help in tracking down the thieves.

Three paintings from the 16th and 17th centuries disappeared from Christ Church Picture Gallery on March 14 last year. Today detectives appeared on the programme Crimewatch in a renewed bid to solve the crime. 

It is one of highest value art thefts the country has ever seen.

Anthony van Dyck's "Soldier on Horseback", and Annibale Carracci's "A Boy Drinking" are hugely famous, and the crown jewels of the gallery's collection.

Together with Salvatore Rosa's "A Rocky Coast with soldiers studying a plan" - they are estimated to be worth more than £10 million.

Salvatore Rosa's "A Rocky Coast with soldiers studying a plan"

It is thought the thieves escaped with the artworks across Christ Church meadow before heading either over the Jubilee Bridge, or possibly across the river in a boat.

These paintings are so well-known in the art world and beyond, it would be almost impossible to sell them through legal channels.

It is hoped this renewed appeal - a year on from the brazen, well-executed theft, will help bring the perpetrators to justice.