COURAGEOUS motorists, who risked personal reprisals by tooting their horns have been credited with averting a burglary at De Marsac Jewellers in Beaconsfield.

Owner Andre De Marsac said he was "immensely grateful to the extraordinarily brave strangers" whose constant tooting brought crowds of shoppers pouring onto the streets to witness three people trying to smash his shop window with a sledge hammer.

Mr De Marsac said: "There were two members of staff and myself serving in the shop at the time of the attempted break in.

"The robbers were pounding the glass but were obviously distracted by the noise and kept looking over at the people who had stopped their cars in the street to beep at them. Then they ran off."

It is the 15th time the jewellers in Station Road has been hit but Mr De Marsac says he won't be chased out of town by criminals.

Police responded quickly after the attempted raid at 3pm on Wednesday, May 25, and followed the offenders in a helicopter.

The robbers fled the scene in a red Alfa Romeo, set fire to their clothes and dumped the car near a wood by Holtspur Top Lane.

Call Detective Constable Paul Keeping on 08458 505505 with information