THREE burglars speaking foreign languages and wearing masks stole a gun from a house when the resident was hiding inside.

On Friday evening, between 5.30pm and 5.50pm, three men broke into a house on Dover Road in Banbury through the front door.

They stole some costume jewellery, a gold necklace, a cocktail watch and a blue/grey metal box which had personal documents about the resident.

They also took a Twilight collector’s handgun before making a dash in a dark coloured car towards Bretch Hill.

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The men were heard speaking with English accents but at one point two of them started talking to each other in a different language – thought to be Polish or Romanian.

At least two of them were wearing tight black masks covering the lower half of their faces.

One man is thought to be around 40 to 50 years old, 5ft 10in and a muscly build.

He was wearing a dark coloured winter coat and rough brown gloves.

Another of the men is believed to be younger and slimmer than the first man.

Thames Valley Police say the gun is only designed to fire blank rounds and wouldn’t ‘easily’ be converted to fire live rounds.

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Investigating officer detective constable Claire Rennie, based at Banbury police station, said: “As the handgun cannot fire live rounds we do not believe it poses a threat to the public.

"However, I am appealing for anyone who was in the area between 5pm and 6pm who saw anything suspicious.

"This area was likely to be busy at the time, with people returning from work. 

"A small dark coloured hatchback vehicle with dark alloys was seen leaving Dover Avenue in the direction of Bretch Hill at approximately 5.50pm and I am very keen to trace the driver or occupants of this vehicle”.

“I also ask that anyone with access to dash-cam footage who was parked or driving through the area at the time of the incident to please review it for anything that could help." 

Anybody with information should call 101 quoting the reference 43190357652.