A PERSHORE antiques dealer subjected to a terrifying ordeal at the hands of knife-wielding raiders has offered a substantial reward for the return of clocks stolen during the robbery.

Peter Ridler, aged, 59, who runs Hansen Chard Antiques in the High Street, had nine clocks taken after being tied up by the two thieves in his shop, on May 18.

He has issued photographs of some of the stolen clocks, valued collectively at £7,250, to alert anyone who might see them or be asked to buy them.

Mr Ridler has also talked to people in the trade in an effort to raise awareness. "I've spoken to virtually all the dealers I know in the country," he said.

"There aren't that many clock dealers, as it happens, and I know most of them."

He hoped his reward offer would help catch the thieves and recover the clocks.

Reliving his experience when the robbers burst into the shop, he said: "It was extremely unpleasant.

"To be threatened with a knife is not the sort of thing you want to have happen to you very often. It's frightening."

He went on: "These two guys really need to have their collars felt. They really do. It's one thing to run into a shop and grab the clocks and run out.

"It's quite another to pull a knife on the owner and scream and shout at him."

Among the clocks stolen was a bracket clock with a rosewood case, brass inlay and painted dial, made in Kettering, with an eight-bell chime and valued at £2,000.

One of the most distinctive was a desk set, with three faces, in burr walnut, incorporating a clock, thermometer and barometer.

Two more - one a bracket clock in an oak case with silver dial and the other a burr walnut bracket clock with a back plate marked Jump London - are worth £1,200 each.

Police are still keen for information about a blue, three-door Vauxhall Astra GL, G-J reg, seen in the area between 9.30am-10am on the day of the robbery, which was carried out at 10.30am.

Contact Evesham CID on 01905 723888 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.