Five antique brass helmets worn by firemen and worth £500 each have been stolen.

They were taken from an antique store in Terminus Road, Bexhill, sometime in the past two weeks.

A Sussex Police statement sad: “The helmets are quite large and heavy and would have required multiple trips in and out of the shop to take them all.

“There is no exact timeframe for this theft, but it would have been sometime in the last couple of weeks, and was reported on Monday (28).

“It is quite possible that the thieves may attempt to sell the helmets on, so police are asking all local antique dealers to be cautious about anybody approaching them to sell items of this description, and to report anybody doing so to police immediately.”

Any witness or anyone else with information is asked to call 101 or email 101@sussex.pnn.police.ukquoting serial 214 of 28/4.