THIEVES hid in a department store until closing time and then sneaked out with thousands of pounds worth of designer clothes.

The brazen burglars are believed to have hid in the Beales department store in Worthing until everybody left before taking their pick of expensive stock with a value of £10,000.

Police have been left baffled as to how the gang, who are still on the run, got in or why they did not set off the alarm.

The alarm only sounded when the thieves escaped through a fire escape.

A source told The Argus the shop is fitted with a sophisticated alarm system of sensors that should detect movement.

The raid appears reminiscent of the plot of the film Home Alone 2 in which bad guys Harry and Marv plot to rob a toy store by hiding amongst the mannequins as it is locked up at night.

The source told The Argus: "It was actually a very well orchestrated crime.

"The shop was emptied overnight in an astonishing robbery with the thief having secreted themselves when the shop shut.

"I gather about £10,000 of stuff was taken-oil skin jackets and top end designer clothes and the like.

"It seems they were able to avoid sensor detectors and alarms before leaving in the dark hours with thousands of pounds worth of stock.

"The store is equipped from top to bottom with sensor alarms and cameras.

"A significant amount of valuable clothes vanished and "I'm guessing the reason for the silence is Beales' embarrassment."

A spokeswoman for Sussex Police said: "Police are investigating a break-in at a shop in Worthing.

"Police attended after the break-in was reported at Beales store in South Street on Monday, November 14. Clothing was stolen and the burglars left the store through the fire escape which set off the alarm. It is not clear how they got in.

"Officers are continuing to investigate. Anyone who saw anything or has any information is asked to contact police on 101@sussex.pnn.police.uk quoting serial 0051 of 14/11."

A Beales spokesman said they did not wish to comment at this time.

NO SCREAMING CHILD STAR TO THWART BURGLARS

IT IS not yet clear if the thieves who got away from Beales in Worthing with £10,000 worth of clothes copied the Home Alone burglars Harry and Marv.

In Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, Harry Lime and Marv Merchants – played by Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern, right – hide out in Duncan’s Toy Store on Christmas Eve.

Harry, hiding in a toy house as they come up with the plan, says to Marv: “Everybody leaves for a nice holiday. We come out of our nice little houses, we empty the registers and then walk out like we own the joint.”

When they carry out the heist, Marv explains “we are fugitives of the law, we are up to our elbows in cash and there’s nobody who even knows about it”.

But just as he says that, the film’s hero Kevin McCallister – played by Macaulay Culkin – turns up and takes a picture before throwing a brick through the window to ruin their plot.

It is just a shame that the real life heist at Beales did not have a real life Kevin McCallister to stop the thieves getting away with all of those clothes.