POLICE defended their response time to a robbery at a jeweller’s after they took nearly a quarter of an hour to turn up despite their headquarters being just a five minute walk away.

Three robbers in ski masks and gardening gloves used a sledgehammer to raid Keating Jewellers in busy Wanstead High Street on Monday at 10.17am.

Police took 14 minutes to arrive despite Wanstead Police Station being situated just the other side of the green on Sprat Hall Road, leaving the owners to try and fend off the masked men.

A police spokesman said: “Due to a vehicle being involved in the robbery, police were initially tasked to search the area for the vehicle and arrived on scene at 10.31 am.”

However, the vehicle has not yet been discovered and the police are appealing for public help to catch the culprits.

The robbers made off with trays of rings worth thousands of pounds, narrowly missing a mother and her two children as they mounted the pavement as they drove off in a black Nissan ZX.

Co-owner Elaine Keating, 53, bravely fought to gather jewellery from the display as she was showered with glass from the sledgehammer.

The men took took four minutes of hammering to smash through the plate glass window.

“I didn’t see the car properly because I was focusing on saving our goods,” she said.

“I saw a hand come and reach out to grab the rings, I tried to grab it but he wriggled free.”

Mrs Keating suffered cuts to her hands and used a curtain to protect her face, while husband and co-owner David tried to fend off the men with a metal pole but eventually retrated to protect his wife.

The 59-year-old said: “I was more outraged than anything else.

“We worked so long and hard to build that collection but they have made off with a good portion of it.”

The men wore dark clothing as well as the masks and gloves and drove away in the direction of Snaresbrook.

Anyone with information should call DC Sara Bolley on 0208 345 2626 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.