A gang of armed robbers stole more than £1 million of jewellery in a city centre raid, it has been revealed.
Three men threatened staff with knives and swords, and smashed open display cases at the Hamilton & Inches store in George Street, Edinburgh at around 11.30am yesterday.
They made their escape in a white BMW car, driven by a fourth man, which was seen to drive east along George Street, down Howe Street and along Heriot Row.
The car was recovered by police a short time later and is currently being forensically examined.
Police initially appeal for any witnesses yesterday but did not put a value on the stolen goods. A force spokesman said today that a full inventory of the stolen items is being carried out and it is estimated that over £1 million of valuables were taken.
Detective Inspector Craig Finnie said: "Staff were left extremely shaken and a major investigation is under way to trace those responsible.'
"While we remain keen to speak with witnesses who were in the George Street area at the time of the robbery, we also wish to trace anyone who remembers seeing both getaway vehicles in the Gloucester Lane area before or after the crime was committed.
"Furthermore, anyone with any further information relevant to this inquiry is also asked to contact police immediately."
A statement on the Hamilton & Inches website said: "I am pleased to say that all of our staff are okay.
''We will however be closed for business in order to make our showroom safe.
''Please be assured that all of our customers' jewellery is held safely in our vaults and is untouched.''
Robert Kirk Inches and his uncle James Hamilton opened their first premises at 90A Princes Street, under the name Hamilton & Inches on November 10, 1866.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article