A GWENT off licence worker was threatened at knife-point in a "terrifying" attack by a robber.

The sales assistant at the Victoria Wine shop in Monmouth was assaulted and locked in the store during his ordeal on Sunday.

The raider made off with an undisclosed amount of cash and cigarettes after the robbery at Monnow Street in Monmouth town centre just before 9pm.

He left through the shop's front door. The victim was a 20-year-old Monmouth man.

Police are appealing for information in tracing the attacker who is believed to have a Gloucestershire/Forest of Dean accent.

Detective Inspector Paul Griffiths, the senior investigating officer, said: "This was a terrifying ordeal for the victim."

The attacker is described as a white male, 5ft 10in tall with a stocky build and aged in his late twenties.

He is described as having thick dark eyebrows meeting in the middle and sunken eyes.

He was wearing a dark coloured baseball cap with a circular motif of the same colour sewn into the front, a scruffy, creased green padded jacket, light blue jeans and dark grey woolly gloves.

He was wearing what appeared to be a dark coloured scarf or something similar used to conceal the lower part of his face and smelled of tobacco. DI Griffiths said detectives are liaising with other police forces as part of the hunt.

Jason Stephens, owner of the nearby Stephens fish and chip shop in Monnow Street, which had already closed by the time of the raid on Sunday, said: "I've been here for seven years and I've never heard of anything like this."

Anyone with information is asked to contact Gwent Police on 01633 838111 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.