Daylight robbery

Mr Garman is offering a 1,000 reward for information leading to the recovery of the keys, some of them belonging to customers on whose properties he is working.

Other keys are for vehicles and plant equipment used by his company, Sussex and South Coast Property Services, and for cars being sold by another business in which he is a partner.

The keys were in a distinctive green holdall which Mr Garman left in his van outside the Wickes DIY store at Broadpiece, Littlehampton, on Thursday morning. His son Sam, 19, stayed behind in the passenger seat and saw a man come up to the driver's door, reach inside and grab the ignition keys and then the bag with the keys.

In the struggle that followed, Sam was grabbed by the throat and punched. He held onto the bag and was dragged out of the van. Another man then helped the attacker to wrestle the holdall from Sam's grip, and the two men drove off in a pick-up vehicle.

Both Mr Garman and Sussex Police have appealed for any witnesses to the incident, at 10am on June 1, to come forward.

Police have interviewed a man from the Bognor area in connection with the theft and two cases of common assault on Sam and, moments earlier, on Mr Garman inside the Wickes store.

He was released on bail after questioning.

Mr Garman is in dispute with the alleged attacker over payment for a sub-contracting job.

The consequences of the keys being stolen, said Mr Garman, had been "a nightmare".

"It's going to cost me thousands to have replacement keys made up. They are for my customer's houses, my business premises, security gates, padlocks, my company vehicles and cars from another business I'm involved with.

"Just on the day of the incident, I was stuck outside Wickes for eight hours while the locksmith worked on my van and on replacing other keys.

"It was very busy around Wickes last Thursday morning and I'm hoping there will be people who saw what happened and who will contact the police. They might not have thought much about it at the time, but this has affected my business considerably.

"We don't know where the keys are. They could be in the river. They could be anywhere."

The holdall containing the keys was green and on one end had the words "Constructing Futures" printed on it, with pictured of buildings.

Anyone who witnessed the incident, or has found the bag or any keys, should contact Sussex Police, telephone 0845 60 70 999, or Crimestoppers, on 0800 555 111.