Hunt goes on for thief who stole Picasso at gunpoint

The hunt continued yesterday for the armed robber, described by police as "audacious and dangerous", who stole a pounds 600,000 Picasso painting from a central London gallery.

Police praised a taxi driver hijacked by the thief to help in his escape with the stolen painting on Thursday.

A man, armed with a sawn-off shotgun, walked into the Lefevre Gallery in Bruton Street and took 35 seconds to rip Pablo Picasso's Tete de Femme from the wall before fleeing to Wimbledon in south-west London.

A photograph from the gallery's surveillance camera was released yesterday. Interpol, art experts and galleries around the world have been alerted to the theft. Jason Bennetto