A man from Hounslow, London, who admitted stealing a Frédéric Chaudière violin valued at £25,000 from a train, has been sentenced to six months in jail.

The violin's owner, Catrin Win Morgan of the Brodowsky Quartet, had placed the instrument, which was in a black Gewa case, on an overhead luggage rack when she boarded a train from Waterloo on 8 February last year. After a short while, she realised that the violin was missing.

A man was captured on CCTV leaving Whitton station with the violin, and the images were circulated in the media. After seeing his face in a newspaper, Tony Graco, 33, handed in the violin to Hounslow station staff on 29 February, explaining that he had found it on a train.

The violin was returned to Win Morgan, and a forensic analysis of the case led to Graco's arrest on suspicion of theft. He was charged on 19 July.

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