Violin worth £2,500 stolen on Jubilee line from Stratford

The stolen violin in its case,

Melissa York, Reporter Tuesday, September 18, 2012
12:00 PM

Police are appealing for information after a violin worth £2,500 was stolen from a musician on the Jubilee Line.

Returning home from a performance at a London theatre, the 42-year-old victim boarded the train at Stratford at around 11.45pm on Friday July 20 with four bags including the instrument.

He exited at Waterloo just after midnight when he noticed his violin was missing but, thinking he had accidentally left it on the train, he waited three weeks to see if it had been handed into London Underground lost property before it became clear it had been stolen.

Officers say they have made a number of inquiries into the incident such as checking the network’s CCTV cameras and speaking to witnesses from the train.

Det Con Andy Jordan, the investigating officer, said: “Not only is the violin of considerable financial value but it was also of great sentimental value.

“The victim has had the 1880’s violin for 30 years, since he was just 12-years-old.

“He had described knowing the violin so well, it had become like a good friend.”

The violin is described as a full-sized violin of a German school from the late 19th century, with the label ‘Percy Lee 1936’.

It is golden in colour with a striking wide-striped two-piece backplane with a rippled dent near to the bottom and some purfling is missing where the wrist wrests.

It has a Thomastik metal tailpiece with four tuners and Thomastik Dominant strings ending in purple wrapping and the tuning peg for the E-string is different to the other pegs.

There was also a bow in the case described as an octagonal stick with silver winding and a leather at the handle.

Anyone with information is urged to contact the British Transport Police on 0800 40 50 40 quoting reference B5/LUA of 13/09/12 or information can be reported anonymously via Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.