£40m jewellery heist gunfire probed

The news emerged after Scotland Yard said a 50-year-old man arrested in east London on Monday had been released on bail.

Poor quality footage recorded by an eyewitness on a mobile phone captures the moment the duo fire a gun as they make off with their £40 million haul.

The men can be seen calmly walking towards a blue BMW holding a woman staff member as someone shouts: "Call the police, call the police." Several security men and possibly one passer-by then move towards the smartly-dressed pair before a gunshot rings out.

A source close to the inquiry said it could not be ruled out that the men intended to harm or kill one of their pursuers and it was not a warning shot.

Investigators were trawling through hundreds of hours of CCTV footage to piece together the robbers' exact escape route. They are looking for at least two accomplices who helped the men escape from Graff Jewellers in London's West End last Thursday.

Officers have recovered a blue BMW abandoned in a nearby street after it collided with a black taxi just seconds after the raid. They have also found a high-powered motorbike possibly used to spirit away a bag holding 43 items of jewellery.

Detectives believe the two men, whose images were caught on camera as they walked into the Mayfair store, may still be in London. Officers who interviewed shop staff believe the men had genuine London accents, despite the fact little was said and the robbery was over in under two minutes.

The source added that speculation an eastern European crime syndicate such as the 'Pink Panther gang' may be behind the raid is probably wide of the mark.

Officers arrested and questioned a 50-year-old man in Ilford, east London, on Monday in connection with the robbery. They suspect that the man, who has been released on bail, may have been involved in planning the raid, although he was not in the West End when it took place. Officers have searched at least three properties in a series of raids across London and the south east.