A GANG of masked raiders held down a householder and stole money after forcing their way into his home on the North York Moors.

North Yorkshire Police's serious crime team has launched a manhunt for the offenders after finding they had crashed their getaway vehicle close to Cropton, near Pickering.

The force released details of the incident on Sunday, (April 10), almost four days after the incident in which several offenders wearing balaclavas broke into a property in the village, which has a population of around 250 that is less than two miles from the A170.

Detectives described the incident, which happened between 8pm and 10pm last Wednesday (April 6), as an aggravated burglary and said the raiders restrained the male occupant in the address while the offence was carried out.

The offenders travelled to and from the property in a stolen grey VW Golf R, which had cloned number plates displaying the registration DV14 FWX.

A police spokesman said: "The vehicle is known to have travelled along the A170 from the direction of Thirsk prior to the burglary taking place.

"It was later recovered a few miles from Cropton, where it had come off the road and crashed. The occupants of the vehicle had made off prior to police arriving on the scene."

Anyone with information should call police on 101 or email stephen.monty@northyorkshire.pnn.police.uk