A 63-year-old window cleaner is being hailed a “hero” after he chased off armed raiders carrying out a smash-and-grab at a Bushey jeweller's on Monday.

Men brandishing sledgehammers smashed the front window of The Jewellery Workshop, in High Road, at about 10.45am in front of dozens of witnesses.

David Guest was cleaning the windows at the Hob Salon, next door, when he heard “a loud bang” before going out to confront three young men attempting the raid.

Mr Guest “shouted at them” and “squared up” to the culprits, who twice threatened him with their hammers.

He said: “At first I thought it was someone beating up the jeweller and he is a friend of mine. I was just so angry that they had the cheek and the nerve to think they could get away with it.

“One of them came at me with the sledgehammer but when I didn't move he started to panic. I stepped forward to grab him and he lost his bottle.”

The burglars ran off empty-handed as Mr Guest, a window cleaner in Bushey Heath for 40 years, tried to cut off their escape down a nearby alley, forcing them to jump the fence.

“I am not the sort of person to stand there and watch and I didn't think, I just charged in there. I would have done anything to stop them but on reflection it was quite stupid.”

Mr Guest, who is divorced, described the offenders as Asian men in their late teens or early 20s, one of whom was about six feet tall and another about five and a half feet tall.

Shop manager Stacey Simmonds described Mr Guest as a “hero” for intervening and said she and the other member of staff were “terrified”.

The 27-year-old said: “We were really shaken up by it - afterwards, my colleague was crying. There's not a lot you can do, it's just fortunate no one was hurt.”

It is the third time the shop has been targeted in recent years and staff say police were at the scene within about five minutes.

Sales assistant Danielle Greenberg, 34, added: “I just saw my life go before my eyes - neither of us could sleep last night.”

Hob Salon assistant manager Adam Cole pulled an elderly customer back into the shop as she tried to leave and saw Mr Guest run out to tackle the thieves.

He said: “He was a real hero. It all happened so quickly and it was so surreal that they were there in broad daylight. A couple of the older customers were pretty shaken by the whole thing.”

Police say investigations are ongoing, though no arrests have been made.

Telephone Hertfordshire Constabulary on 0845 3300222 with information.