A THIEF stole two instruments worth £15,000 from a visiting orchestra and cashed them in for just £60, only to confess when he found out about their real value.
The European Orchestral Ensemble were playing at The Customs House, in South Shields, as part of a national tour.
Scott Wilson sneaked into a dressing room in the venue and helped himself to a unique violin made in 1878 and worth £8,000 and a £7,000 cello.
Newcastle Crown Court heard he had no idea of their value and got just £60 from Cash Convertors for the violin and gave the cello away.
After media coverage of the case Wilson realised how valuable they were and contacted police to tell them where they were.
Now Wilson, who also carried out 15 other burglaries, including at a funeral parlour, medical centre and a hospital, has been jailed for 19 months.
Judge Penny Moreland told him: “You stole extremely valuable unique instruments, causing no doubt great distress to those who owned them.
“However it’s to your credit that you facilitated the recovery of those instruments once you realised what you had stolen.”
The court heard Wilson sneaked into a dressing room at The Customs House one afternoon in February. After stealing the instruments he sold the violin for £60 at Cash Convertors and gave the cello away.
The musicians said they were left devastated by the theft of their treasured instruments, which were eventually returned.
Vic Laffey, defending, said: “The defendant became aware of the value of the instruments when he read about it in the local paper.
“They both ended up at Cash Convertors in South Shields but when he became aware of their value he told the police where they were and admitted his involvement.”
Wilson also broke into a medical centre in South Shields on February 11, stealing a mobile phone worth £300. On February 26 he broke into Mecca Bingo, on Dean Road, South Shields, pinching a television from a staff room.
Wilson, 22, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to three counts of burglary.
He also asked for 13 other burglaries to be taken into consideration, including break-ins at a funeral parlour, hospital, hotel, The Sage Gateshead and the Metrocentre.
The court heard he has 24 previous convictions, including two for burglary. Mr Laffey said Wilson’s offending was driven by his drug addiction.
Mr Laffey said: “This young man is a drug addict and he was homeless towards the end of last year. He owed money for drugs and was stealing on impulse trying to generate money to pay off his drug debt and sustain him from one day to the next.”
