Two months after York's great art robbery, the City Art Gallery remains unprotected by a basic tool of modern security - closed circuit TV.

Flashback as police look for clues following the raid on York's City Art gallery last January

A security review was launched by City of York Council after the unsolved raid on January 22, in which two armed raiders grabbed 20 paintings worth more than a million pounds and tied up staff.

The thieves came into the gallery posing as visitors, and stayed to reconnoitre the building until closing time, when they donned masks.

Cameras trained on the gallery entrance doors could have captured the faces of the thieves on tape, giving detectives a big boost in their - so far unsuccessful - hunt for the thieves.

DI Phil Metcalfe, leading the robbery investigation, said today that cameras would also have had a useful deterrent value.

And a leading CCTV consultant and installer said that a high quality closed-circuit system, involving cameras trained on all three gallery entrance doors and producing high-definition video images in colour, could be installed for around £5,000.

But the council says that the installation of a CCTV system to protect the remaining paintings hanging on the gallery walls only remains an option under consideration.

Acting director of leisure services, Charlie Croft, said: "It's still being considered. It's an ongoing issue." He said CCTV had not been recommended as a security measure by the Museums and Galleries Commission and cameras outside the gallery had failed to capture the thieves on tape.

And he revealed that the authority had already spent thousands of pounds on other security measures, including a new alarm system.

He said personal alarms had been provided to be worn by each member of staff, which were linked up to the police.

Meanwhile, DI Metcalfe said a team of detectives was still investigating the raid, and various lines of inquiry were being pursued.

"But we are still waiting for our big breakthrough."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.