Raiders 'armed with sledgehammer' target Andrew Smith Jewellers in West Malling High Street
12:00, 23 December 2013
A jeweller's has been targeted in an attempted robbery today - the second raid in just months.
Police were called to Andrew Smith Jewellers, in West Malling High Street, at just after 11.45am.
A witness said offenders used a sledgehammer to smash the window, but fled empty handed.
It is believed the three men, wearing balaclavas, were chased away by the shop's security guard.
He was hailed as a hero by one shopkeeper, who heard him tell the would-be robbers that they would have to get through him to get to the goods.
It is thought they took a swing at the guard, before fleeing in a car.
It is the second time the luxury retailer has been robbed in just four months.
Two masked men armed with an axe stormed the store and stole a large amount of jewellery on Friday, August 9.
A CCTV image showed a staff member threatened by a man wearing a plastic protective suit and yellow gloves before leaving in a getaway car waiting outside.
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