Musician appeals for return of £180,000 violin

Robert Napier, 67, was returning to Bedwyn, Somerset from London, where he had taken the instrument for valuation. But the retired shipping consultant was distraught when he realised he had left the rare Goffriller violin on a luggage rack. He alerted rail staff who searched carriages - but to no avail.

'When I put it on the luggage rack, I thought I couldn't possibly forget it,' he said. 'I wouldn't say I was a particularly forgetful person.'

Mr Napier, who co-owns the instrument with his four siblings, is hoping for its safe return after his insurance company offered a £10,000 reward.

The violin, which was crafted in Venice by luthier Matteo Goffriller, has been in Napier's family for a century. The instrument once entertained troops during World War II, when his mother Elizabeth Hunt performed with the Ebsworth Quartet.

The missing Goffriller and its bow, marked 'R Sartory', was in a brown case bearing the name Elizabeth Napier.

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