ARMED robbers who stole £66,000 worth of designer spectacles from a Whalley optician could be from Liverpool.

Lancashire police are liaising with officers on Merseyside after a witness noted that at least one of the men involved in the crime at Robin Standen Opticians in King Street had a Merseyside accent.

Detective Inspector Terry Richardson from Blackburn CID said: "I am told that it's fashionable in Liverpool to wear designer specs with plain glass in them.

"For someone to burgle premises like that they must have a ready market and I have no doubt whatsoever that that is why they were taken."

He added that Robin Standen was thought to be the only optician in the north of England who sold the type of frames that were stolen.

Four men wearing full-face balaclavas staged the attack on Wednesday evening.

They threatened a bystander with a gun before escaping with the frames.

Mr Richardson said: "It was totally unnecessary for them to be armed. Whalley is a quiet market town, not Manchester or Liverpool."

A forensic examination was being carried out on the car used in the raid, a black Ford Sierra G535 JWW.

Mr Richardson said: "We are appealing for anyone who saw the car in the Whalley area on Wednesday evening or between Whalley and the Old Stone House restaurant at Mitton, where it was found, to get in touch."

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