POLICE are investigating a £120,000 raid on a jewellery store in Winchester this week.

Officers say the raid on Monday night at Ernest Jones, in the High Street, took place at around 11pm while the area was full of passers-by and are urgently calling for witnesses to come forward.

They are also linking it to a series of high-value burglaries at other Ernest Jones stores across the south, which were carried out in the same way.

CCTV footage has allowed officers to piece together what happened during the raid, which saw a host of precious items, including TAG and OMEGA watches and platinum jewellery, stolen.

Police say two men forced their way into the premises, which was shuttered closed at the front, by breaking through the rear gates, next to Robert Dyas, in Upper Brook Street.

The men were later seen to run across the street into a dark coloured car parked the wrong way in a one-way street, next to Monsoon, the ladies clothes shop opposite.

Another man was spotted talking on a mobile phone outside Vodafone, whom officers believe may have been the driver of the getaway car.

Both men are described as white and wearing dark clothing, possibly hooded tops, but there is only one fuller description of one of the raiders.

He is aged in his late 20s with short brown or ginger hair, and wearing a blue tracksuit with two white stripes on his sleeves.

PC Chris Phillips, of North Walls police station, said the area was busy at the time of the raid.

He said he was particularly keen to speak to man with a beige hood and a guitar strapped to his back, who appeared to stop near the man talking on the mobile.

Anyone with information is asked to call North Walls Police Station on 0845 045 45 45, or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.