PORTS across Britain were on alert this afternoon after armed robbers tied up staff at York City Art Gallery and stole paintings worth about £1 million.

Twenty works, including a Turner painting of Rievaulx Abbey and two 14th century religious panels, were grabbed by masked raiders armed with a sawn-off shotgun and an automatic pistol.

Four members of staff, three men and a woman, were threatened and tied up while the two robbers cut and tore pictures out of their frames before escaping with the works. The paintings taken from the gallery's own collection were not insured, although two loaned paintings, a Turner and an early 20th century nude by Roderic O'Conor, were covered.

Coun Rod Hills, the leader of City of York Council, said it was the usual practice at art galleries not to insure paintings because it was too expensive.

He said there would be a complete review of security at the gallery - and that would include looking at insurance. He said: "We need expert advice on this."

The four gallery staff were said to have been "very upset, shaken and traumatised" by their ordeal in which a pistol was loaded in front of them, but they were not physically injured in last night's raid.

Two of them were taken to York District Hospital to be treated for shock.

Gallery curator Richard Green said today: "This is clearly the blackest day in the gallery's history and those of us who work here are absolutely devastated by this loss. Mercifully the staff were not physically injured."

He added they were desperate to recover what he described as irreplaceable items. Mr Green said the Turner had been on loan for the last eight to ten years from an undisclosed private collector. He said two out of the gallery's four paintings by Walter Sickert, an early 20th century painter, had been stolen.

Mr Green added that in addition to the 20 stolen paintings, four or five works had been cut or ripped from their frames and left strewn around on the ground. Police said today the gallery, which is closed until Monday, had been sealed off for forensic analysis.

Det Insp Phil Metcalfe of York police said details of stolen artworks had been circulated throughout the country and his officers were liaising with Scotland Yard's antiques and arts squad.

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