Man charged with theft of £150,000 violin from north London pub

23 March 2026, 16:44 | Updated: 24 March 2026, 13:54

The accused thief is alleged to have swiped the 285-year-old violin while its owner was dining.

A man has been charged after allegedly stealing an antique violin worth £150,000 from a North London pub while its professional musician owner had stopped for a meal.

Ahmed Sami Madour, 46, was accused of taking the 1740 Florentine Lorenzo Carcassi violin belonging to Philharmonia Orchestra violinist David López Ibáñez, who was dining at the time with a friend at the Marquess Tavern in Canonbury Street, Islington.

He was arrested in June after the theft in February. The violin was on loan to Ibáñez and the theft was every musician’s nightmare.

“It’s lived 300 years prior to my hands touching it. It’s got its own history”, Ibáñez, who plays second violin in the orchestra, told the press at the time.

He added: “You get taught from a very early age to take such good care of it. Nothing prepares you for having it snatched away.”

Madour, from Leytonstone in East London but currently of no fixed abode, faces two counts of theft – one relating to the violin in February and another alleging the theft of a £4,000 guitar in Hackney on the same day.

Madour was charged on 19 January and appeared before Snaresbrook Crown Court last week. He has pleaded not guilty to both charges and has been released on unconditional bail pending trial in May 2027.