Man leaves £180,000 violin on train

A £10,000 reward is being offered for the return of a valuable 17th Century violin which was left on a train.

Robert Napier, from Wiltshire, had just had the 1698 Venice-made Goffriller valued by a London dealer at £180,000.

He got off a Paddington to Taunton train at Bedwyn on 29 January with the family heirloom still on board.



"It was just one of those terrible moments when I realised, as the train was steaming off, that I had left it on the train," he said.

Despite raising the alarm soon after and a search being made of the train at Taunton station, the violin has not been found.

The missing Goffriller, together with a bow stamped R Sartory, were in a rectangular case with a brown cover. Insurance company Allianz has offered a reward of up to £10,000 for the return of the instrument.