Musician reunited with £250,000 violin left on train in London

Ellen Manning
Updated
Close up shot of a woman performing on a violin during a concert.
The £250,000 violin was taken after it was left on a train (Stock: Picture: Getty)

A musician whose antique violin worth £250,000 was stolen from a train in London has been reunited with his instrument.

Professional musician Stephen Morris reported the 310-year-old Tecchler violin missing on October 22.

He had left it on a train travelling from London Victoria to Orpington when he got off at Penge East, leaving him devastated.

But Mr Morris announced on Twitter that the violin had been handed back with no damage at all.

Tweeting the news that the violin had been returned, Mr Morris wrote: “My violin is home safe and sound! Thanks for the overwhelming support.”

The instrument was handed back to Mr Morris at a car park in Beckenham on Friday evening, overseen by plain-clothes police officers.

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Mr Morris told the BBC: “I feel a bit battered and bruised… I haven’t had a great deal of sleep since it went missing.

“He was very apologetic, he said he wanted to hand it to me in person.”

British Transport Police (BTP) previously said a man had taken the violin as the train approached Bromley South, and got on a connecting train to St Mary Cray.

They released a CCTV image of a man believed to be connected to the incident and a person then sent a direct message to Mr Morris on Twitter who identified him.

BTP said it would be taking no further action against the man as he had contacted Mr Morris and handed the violin back.

Mr Morris added: “It couldn’t have ended in a happier way.”