This is the shocking moment a thief smashed his way into a high-end fashion store before sprinting out with luxury handbags worth thousands.
The raid took place at a Vivienne Westwood store on The Hayes in Cardiff city centre at 6.30am on Saturday.
CCTV footage captured the robbery but photos from the next day show the man was forced to abandon his ill-gotten goods after being confronted by security guards outside the store.
In the clip, you can see the thief walk up to the entrance before striking it with a rock, leaving a hole in the glass.
He then hits it again with his shoulder before running through the door and into the store in a shower of glass.
The CCTV camera is trained on the shop front and the thief can’t be seen for a few seconds as he hunts the handbags.
Shocking footage shows the moment the thief smashed through the glass door of the high-end fashion store in Cardiff
He then sprints out of the shop in a hurry, clutching a number of the items he’s picked up from the fashion store.
Although the camera doesn’t capture it clearly, the man is then confronted by security guards from the nearby St David’s shopping centre and is forced to abandon the luxury bags.
Photos from the following day show the smashed shopfront with the handbags in a neat row outside.
Staff could be seen sweeping up the shattered glass in the morning, just hours after the thief’s daring robbery attempt
However, the thief was confronted by security guards after leaving the store and was forced to dump the luxury handbags outside (pictured above
The manager of the Vivienne Westwood store told Wales Online: ‘He ran in and grabbed the handbags but the St David’s security staff were doing their rounds and caught him.
‘He had a bicycle and he threatened them with it like a weapon. He then used the rock to threaten them. He then told them he had a knife and they had to back off.
‘He then ran over to the BBC building in Central Square but got away.’
The thief’s bike could be seen abandoned near the fashion store.
The man had attempted to use his bike as a weapon against the security guards, later dumping it nearby in his escape
Despite the significant damage, the staff were able to come together to get the shop open at 10am.
A man later reported seeing someone jumping over a 7ft fence near construction work in the city centre.
The man said the person sprinted away after making the jump.
South Wales Police are investigating the incident.
Staff managed to get the store open the next day but the damage to the shop front was extensive with shattered glass spread near the entrance