A JEWELLERY shop manager was stabbed as he grappled with a masked teenaged raider.

The 45-year-old man and two staff members tackled the robber, who was wielding a ten-inch blade.

The manager suffered two wounds to the back of his head and one to his left hand, which required stitching at Durham City's University Hospital of North Durham.

The incident happened at about 1pm on Monday in North Road Jewellers, in the city's North Road.

The raider, wearing a balaclava, went into the shop when there were no customers about and ordered the manager and his staff - a man of 50 and a woman aged 41 - to open the safe and then lie on the floor.

But a struggle ensued, involving all the shop employees. It was then the manager got his stab wounds, and the raider fled after a spray was used on him.

He snatched a tray of rings, said by police to be of 'limited value' and ran to the top of North Road, removing his mask on the way.

Police received a possible siting of him at the city's railway station nearby and asked British Transport Police to search the 1.10pm Newcastle to Bristol train, which stopped at the station, when it called at Darlington. They drew a blank.

The robber is white, in his late teens, 5ft 10ins to 6ft tall, of slim to medium build with a pale complexion and short dark hair shaved at the back and sides and with a slight fringe on top. He wore a black short jacket and light coloured jeans.

Police have searched drains and overgrown flowerbeds in the area to see if the knife was discarded.

Det Insp Andy Reddick, of Durham CID, said the raider may have waited outside the shop before going in

"There were quite a number of people about at the time in what is usually a busy area of the city.

"We would like to talk to anyone who might have seen a young man fitting this description hanging about outside the shop, running up North Road or leaving the city by train.''

Anyone with information should call police on (0191) 386 4222 or Crimestoppers anonymously on (0800) 555111