Stolen bassoon worth £40,000 recovered by eagle-eyed BTP officers and returned to owner – Brighton

A musician has this week been reunited with his £40,000 stolen bassoon, after it was recovered by eagle-eyed officers from a garden where it was hidden in Brighton.

The musician accidentally left the high-value instrument on a service travelling from Lewes to Brighton on 19 October. Once he realised he had left it behind and returned to the platform, the train had already departed. He alerted a member of staff at the station who checked the train for the bassoon however it was nowhere to be seen.

CCTV enquiries later showed the instrument being taken by another passenger who boarded the service afterwards.

Following a BTP investigation, a man from Brighton was arrested in connection to the theft on Tuesday 7 December. He was taken to custody for questioning before being released under investigation.

Officers conducted a thorough search of two addresses, where they found the bassoon hidden behind a tree in its case and were able to return it to its overjoyed owner.

Police Sergeant Russ Stobbs said: “This instrument was extremely precious to the owner, and I’m proud that the team endeavoured to search throughout the night to find it.

“This is a fantastic example of BTP going above and beyond to help passengers on the railway and we’ll continue to make enquiries into this incident.”