Detective pulled the strings to ensure return of violin

A FORMER detective negotiated a latenight exchange of a missing £250,000 violin after the man who found it feared he would be framed as a thief.

Police released CCTV images of the person who picked up the 310-year-old violin on a Southeastern train after musician Stephen Morris left it on board.

British Transport Police last month treated the matter as a potential theft, sending the man who found it into a panic. He eventually contacted Mr Morris via Twitter, claiming to recognise the person in the picture.

Mr Morris, who left the violin on the London Victoria to Orpington service after recording at Abbey Road studios, contacted retired Scotland Yard officer Mike Pannett, his friend, to help ensure the instrument’s safe return. The detective told The Guardian: “It was quite obvious to me and the detectives that whoever had this violin was desperate to get it back but was panicking because he didn’t want to get into trouble.

“I knew we weren’t dealing with a hardened criminal but somebody who had made a bit of a mistake [in picking up the violin] and had panicked.”

Tense negotiations followed to persuade the man to show up with the violin, which he eventually did, meeting Mr Morris in a car park by Beckenham Junction station at 10pm on Friday, as Mr Pannett and police watched nearby in case the handover went wrong. “It was very tense,” Mr Pannett said. “All he wanted was to apologise, shake Steve’s hand and make nothing more of it. It couldn’t have ended in a happier way.”