POLICE are hunting for a gang of thieves who escaped after a raid at a Great Malvern jewellers, just days before the area's new CCTV system went live.

The window of Parry's, Church Street, was smashed at around 3.40am on Saturday and a small number of watches stolen.

Great Malvern's new digital CCTV system was imminently due to be turned, but was not operational at the time of the burglary.

The system has been undergoing an overhaul to replace the previous cameras since mid-October and the town centre has had no coverage since then.

The offenders are believed to have escaped in a blue BMW 5 Series, just before 4am. The getaway car crashed a few minutes later into a hedge in Queen Elizabeth Road, Malvern Link, and the occupants fled.

The BMW had been stolen earlier in the night from an address in Westward Road.

Police believe a second car, a dark coloured saloon, was also involved in the break-in.

Parry's owner David Siviter said only about two or three watches had been taken but estimated the cost of repairs and replacement of smashed windows at around £8,000.

"All the best, expensive things are taken out of the window at night," he said.

The shop suffered a similar attack on September 11 last year.

Malvern Hills District Council corporate director Kevin Douglas said CCTV cameras were due to go live early this week. Plans for 24 hour monitoring at a control centre are in place.

"It's very unfortunate that the burglary happened at this time," he said.

Anyone with information on the incident is asked to contact police on 08457 444 888 quoting c/652330.