On the morning of Saturday 13th February, Robert Grummitt’s violin shop in the High Street, Caterham-on-the-Hill was the target of thieves for the second time in less than a month.

The stolen instruments, worth around £700, had recently been placed in the window display to replace the previously stolen items. The instruments were very unusual items that Mr Grummitt never expected to be the target of thieves.

He said: “These instruments are highly specialised. I can only think that they must know a crooked dealer who will pay for them.”

The three distinctive instruments included a Strohviol - a 1920s jazz scene instrument; a traditional Chinese Erh’hu and a Turkish Saz.

Mr Grummitt commented: “My window to the world has been taken away. For years those displays sold more to passers by than I could during the day. It is a shocking sign of the times.”

At around 6.00am on the day of the burglary a neighbour heard a smash then glimpsed a man wearing a hooded jacket jumping into a vehicle which sped off down the High Street.  If you think you may have seen anything suspicious in the High Street early in the morning on  Saturday 13th February please call Surrey Police on 0845 125 2222.