Horror moment jewellery shop thieves tie up young woman and threaten to kill her

Harrowing footage has captured the moment two thieves tied up a petrified shopkeeperand threatened to kill her.

Ints Dombrovskis, 45, and Hugo Ignats, 42, stormed into lPG Jewellery and Collectables in Holbeach, Lincolnshire on May 30. The pair, both from Barnsley, were armed with an axe and duct tape to help them carry out the £50,000heist.

CCTV showed them making the woman open the display cabinets before they used tape and a bungee cord to tie her ankles and wrists. The woman, aged in her 20s, thought they had a gun after they pretended to have a pistol in their bag. They pointed it towards her and said, "don’t move or I will kill you".

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The two thugs snatched a string of luxury items including watches, rings and necklaces from the display cabinets. They also stole a phone, bank card and £15 cash, during the nine-minute robbery, which saw them leave with more than £50,000 worth of goods.

The pair fled the scene in a silver Vauxhall Astra, which was found torched just a four minute drive from the jewellers. They were then traced to a black Honda Civic 37 miles away before they were stopped at gun point by armed officers.

Police bodycam footage shows cops swooping in and forcing the pair to stop on the A1 in Nottingham. Both men were sentenced at Lincoln Crown Court on Friday (Aug 22) after both men pleaded guilty to robbery. They were each handed seven years and four months in prison.

Detective Constable Katie Munroe, the Investigating Officer, said: “I cannot begin to comprehend how terrified our victim was, she showed huge courage on that day. I really wish her well for the future as she comes to terms with what happened." Munroe added: "This investigation was about working with our different teams and building an evidential picture. The investigation moved at a fast pace with information of interest coming in quickly, thankfully.

"The Intelligence Unit played a significant part in identifying the offender’s movements. The call from the fire fighters was instrumental in joining up more of the dots. The information from the scene gathered by response officers who were first to arrive was crucial. Detectives secured evidence including CCTV and completed searches of the vehicles.The final piece of the jigsaw fell into place when colleagues from armed policing found and arrested the two defendants, safely”.

Sergeant Lee Giles, the Operational Firearms Commander on the day, said: “As police officers, our main goal is ensuring public safety and bringing offenders to justice. This was a horrendous crime committed against a completely innocent member of our community merely going about her daily work.

“As soon as my team were aware of this incident we accepted nothing less than getting these offenders in handcuffs. Working with officers from Nottinghamshire Police armed response, we did exactly that on the A1 where these two offenders thought they had escaped with the proceeds of their crime. Not on my watch."