A daring thief made off with more than £400,000 of jewellery from an auction house in Glasgow.

The robber managed to steal more than 300 items of jewellery from a safe at McTears Auctioneers in Govan, Glasgow.

Among the haul, estimated to be worth £430,000, from the premises in Meiklewood Road are high value ladies rings, earrings, bracelets and necklaces which were scheduled to be auctioned later this month.

Strathclyde Police have not ruled out the possibility that the theft was an inside job or if the auctioneers were targeted ahead of a highly publicised auction which took place there on Wednesday morning.

The thief was caught on CCTV raiding the auctioneers at around 7.15am on Tuesday, before a member of staff arrived later that morning to find the building unlocked, the alarm deactivated and the safe open.

Police have still to identify every item that was stolen and are conducting house-to-house inquiries in the area. Detectives will speak to police across the UK as part of their investigation.

Detective Sergeant Jane Lawson, from Govan CID, said: "We have been checking CCTV as well as making extensive inquiries to trace those responsible for the theft of this jewellery which is mainly ladies rings, earrings, bracelets and necklaces, over 300 individual items in total.

"So far we are able to say that suspect arrived wearing a black woollen hat, a high viz vest, and dark clothing and was carrying a black holdall.

"A few minutes later a car with its headlights on arrived into the car park outside the auctioneers. I would appeal to anyone who was in Meiklewood Road and saw a car leaving the car park of McTears Auctioneers around 7.20am to contact me.

"We are also releasing photographs of the jewellery which has been stolen. So I would ask the public, especially those in the jewellery industry, to take a look at them and contact officers if they have been offered any items for sale."

A spokesman for McTear's Auctioneers said: "We can confirm that a burglary took place at McTear's Auctioneers in the early hours of Tuesday. A number of items were stolen and we are working closely with the police as they continue their inquiries.

"We would urge anyone who has any information to contact Strathclyde Police."

Anyone with any information on this robbery is asked to contact the CID on 0141 532 5400.