A brave jeweller came face to face with masked raiders armed with a sledgehammer.

And he told how told how he confronted the two thugs who struck in a busy street in broad daylight and tried to stop them stealing jewellery.

The attack happened at around 9.45am yesterday at Neimantas Jewellery Shop in Commercial Street, Brighouse.

Shopkeeper Steve Neimantas was horrified when the masked men approached and broke the glass to the shop.

Mr Neimantas, 46, said: “A car pulled up and two men wearing hoods and scarves got out.

“They started hammering the glass with sledgehammers, but it is laminated so it took them a few attempts before they got in.

“I moved to the other side of the shop and tried to pull the jewellery out of the window, but one of them grabbed a load of stuff.

“The other one then came in the shop and started waving his sledgehammer.

“ I walked towards him but he didn’t say anything, then just fled.”

The pair made off in a waiting in a getaway car, parked outside and driven by a third man.

Mr Neimantas added: “It all happened so fast, I have no idea how much they took.

“No-one was hurt and the police were here in minutes.”

Mr Neimantas said he was working with a female member of staff and she raised the alarm in the back room.

She was left terrified and shaken by the ordeal.

A customer who was also in the shop at the time of the raid was also uninjured in the raid.

The shop, which has been in the family for more than 50 years, had previously been robbed in October, 2010, and again three years earlier.

A West Yorkshire police spokesman said: “We received a call at 9.45am from a business in Commercial Street, Brighouse to a report of a burglary.

“Officers attended the scene and enquiries are ongoing by Halifax CID.”

Anyone who has information should contact Halifax CID on 01422 337085 or CrimeStoppers in confidence on 0800 555 111.