BRITAIN'S "ugliest" robber, who is being hunted by police after a raid on a Radlett home - presented a problem for the makers of the BBC Crimewatch programme, who had difficulty an actor "grotesque" enough to play him.

The toothless thug frightened mother-of-three Rachel Wright when he held her up at knifepoint as she pulled on to the drive at her home in Watford Road, Radlett.

Detective Constable Mick Trotman, who is leading the investigation, said: "He had a big, wonky nose, no teeth and squinty eyes. It was not a pretty sight.

"The victim commented on how ugly he was. Fortunately, she was unhurt although she was left very traumatised."

He added: "With his appearance, you would have thought we would not have too much trouble tracking him down.

"But we have come up against a bit of a brick wall, which is why we went on Crimewatch." DC Trotman said police attempted to produce an e-fit of the suspect but it was unsuccessful.

He said: "We did try to do an e-fit but it didn't work for a number of reasons. You build a picture and then show it to the witness, but we came to the conclusion it just was not ugly enough."

BBC spokeswoman Rosanna Ixer said they had trouble finding anyone "as grotesque" as the suspect for their dramatic reconstruction.

She said: "Our brief was that he had small squinty eyes, a broken nose and very bad teeth, with some of them missing. He was quite grotesque.

"We tried a lot of agencies before managing to come up with someone who bore any resemblance."

The knifeman was about 5ft 9in with no front teeth, a large crooked nose that may have been broken and small, squinty eyes. He had short, unkempt, light brown hair and was wearing a hooded grey sweat top.

Ms Wright, 34, was returning home from her local gym with two of her tots in the back seat when her confrontation with the robbers occurred in the driveway of her luxury four-bedroom detached house.

As she wound down the window of her Mercedes to find out what they were doing at her door, the robber, who was with an accomplice, held a knife to her face and demanded she let them into the house.

DC Trotman said: "They marched her upstairs to the master bedroom and helped themselves to a stash of jewellery. They also took some electrical equipment, including a video."

Bizzarrely, as they left the house, they helped Ms Wright carry her two boys, aged two-and-a-half and 16 months, inside. The knifeman cut one of them free from his seat belt. Her third son was at a playgroup.

DC Trotman said: "It was a strange thing to do. But Ms White was very hysterical and maybe they were concerned for her. The men fled on foot, leaving the family inside the house."

Ms Wright's husband, Andrew, was at work at the time of the incident at 2pm

on February 6. She did not get a good look at the second robber, although he was also white and of a similar age.

DC Trotman said: "It was a horrific experience for her. One of the children was also very upset but, luckily, the other one was probably too young to realise what was going on."

He added he was following up more than 8O calls about the suspects following the Crimewatch UK reconstruction.