POLICE officers investigating an armed robbery at a shop in Clacton are appealing for witnesses to help with their inquiries.

POLICE officers investigating an armed robbery at a shop in Clacton are appealing for witnesses to help with their inquiries.

At about 11.20pm on Sunday thieves targeted the 7-11 store in the High Street.

The cashier had just locked up and was walking home when he was approached in The Arcade, at the junction of the High Street and Station Road, by two men who threatened him with a knife.

They forced him back to the store and made him open the safe.

They then tied and gagged him before making off with a four-figure sum of money.

The first of the robbers is described as 5ft 8ins tall, of average build, wearing a dark coloured hoodie with horizontal stripes and a dark scarf over his nose and mouth, showing just his eyes.

His accomplice was white, 5ft 8ins tall, of medium to large build. He had a “cratered face” which was badly pitted and marked, and he was wearing a dark jacket which came to his mid-thigh as well as a dark coloured woolly hat.

The men were carrying a red drawstring bag and left the store via the rear exit, walking towards Carnarvon Road. They sounded as if they were using false northern accents.

The shop cashier was shaken and had minor injuries to his wrist where he had been tied up.

Detectives are keen to hear from anyone who was in the area at the time of the incident, may have seen the men hanging around the area or know where they went after the robbery.

Anyone with any information is asked to contact CID at Clacton on 0800 333 4444 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.