£50,000 Rolf Harris art stolen

More than 20 Rolf Harris paintings and prints - said to be worth £50,000 - have been stolen in a raid.

Police stumbled across a gang as they loaded the art into a car at the Warehouse Gallery, Manor Farm, in Rotherfield Peppard, Oxfordshire.

But the thieves escaped after a high-speed chase through country lanes.

Jack Free, owner of the gallery, described the raid as a "supermarket sweep". He added: "It is gut-wrenching. The joint has been cased."

He said they got in by sawing off padlocks from the metal door at the back of the warehouse .

Mr Free added: "They even took the price cards off the wall so they would know how much each piece was worth." He said the most valuable print taken was called The Boxer, inspired by a chance meeting Harris had with a former prize-fighter in London during the Seventies.

Other prints stolen in the raid were My Lovely Alwen, Time Goes By, Blue Hills, Painting Parliament, Camels At The Taj Mahal, and The Kiss. Two seascapes were also taken.