Thousands of pounds worth of jewellery was stolen in a ram raid in Dartmouth last week.

Shortly before 6am on Tuesday 28th a green car rammed into the front of Dartmouth Trading Company smashing one of the front windows and stealing thousands of pounds worth of jewellery.

According to the owner of the shop they were only in the shop for four minutes before making their escape.

Local Police were made aware of the incident around 6am and sent a forensics team in to investigate the scene of the crime.

The shop had to close last Tuesday and Wednesday to clean up the mess created from the incident. There will be further closures this week to fix the smashed window.

The owner of Dartmouth Trading Co, asked not to be named, said: “It could’ve been worse; they could’ve taken items of higher value. There was jewellery strewn across the street when I arrived later in the morning, we were all anxious to find out what had been taken whilst the Police were taking forensics. We feel lucky that not more was taken and that no one was injured as it happened during the middle of the night.”

Some Dartmouth residents questioned the presence of local police in the aftermath of the incident. The Deputy Mayor of Dartmouth Town Council, Cllr Cathy Campos responded saying: “Dartmouth has had a new fully staffed neighbourhood police team for several months now. I think the town is already seeing a difference in the number of crimes being solved.  The team can often be seen patrolling the town on foot. They are enthusiastic and committed to making a difference. I understand that the vehicle involved in the robbery has already been identified via the towns CCTV network and that several lines of enquiry are being followed up.”