A £1.2m Antonio Stradivarius violin, which was stolen in London’s Euston railway station in November 2010, has been found by British Transport Police. The instrument, which dates from 1696, was taken from violinist Min-Jin Kym at a Pret a Manger café along with a Peccatte bow, worth £62,000, and another bow worth £5000. The violin has now been verified as the true article following disappointment earlier this year, when a violin suspected to be the stolen instrument by Bulgarian police, was found to be a Stradivarius copy. 

‘We're absolutely delighted to have recovered the Stradivarius violin after a long and very complex investigation,’ said Detective Chief Inspector Simon Taylor. ‘Though it took some time to successfully locate and recover the violin, we were confident it had remained in the UK. I always maintained that its rarity and distinctiveness would make any attempt to sell it extremely difficult, if not futile, because established arts and antiques dealers would easily recognise it as stolen property.’

The thieves were arrested and sentenced in connection with the crime in 2011, although the violin remained lost. Police discovered the instrument intact with only minimal damage at a property in the Midlands this week.