A SUBSTANTIAL reward has been offered for the recovery of paintings and antiques valued at £29,000 stolen during a raid on a house in Read.

Burglars forced open the patios doors of the detached house in Singleton Avenue to get inside. They stole two Breanski oil paintings of a Scottish Highland mountain scene and the Falls of Invergarry, each worth £10,000. The paintings were cut from their frames which were left at the house.

The raiders also stole four Baxter prints of various landscape scenes, valued at a total of £4,000, and silver candlesticks and goblets worth £5,000. The burglars made off in the family's stolen silver Peugeot 205 car which was later found abandoned in Bacup.

The raid took place between 5.45pm last Thursday and 7.40am the next morning.

Police said a car was heard revving its engine at around 1am on Friday.

The unspecified reward has been offered by an insurance company for the recovery of the stolen items and the arrest and convictions of the raiders.

Anyone with any information about the crime or who may have seen or heard anything suspicious is asked to contact the police on Colne 863161.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.