A Hawkinge insurance official who stole an antique viola worth £300,000 today faced the music for his "moment of madness".

The instrument had been left on a London to Dover Priory train by a member of the London Symphony Orchestra.

Thief Stephen Tillyer was caught on CCTV cameras when he took it at Folkestone West and concealed it in the boot of his car.

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Shamefaced Tillyer, 49, from Gloster Close, had denied two offences of stealing the instrument and a schoolboy’s rucksack, which had been also been left on the train.

But the jury at Canterbury Crown Court rejected his account he had planned to return the items to their owners and ruled that he was a thief!

Today the insurance official avoided an immediate jail sentence after the judge, Recorder John Haines told him: "You had ample opportunity to hand those items to a member of staff and ample opportunity to report the fact you found them."

Video: Tillyer steals the viola

He was given a six month jail sentence suspended for 12 months and ordered to do 150 hours of unpaid work for the community.

As well as paying his own legal costs, the judge also ordered he should pay £3500 prosecution costs after hearing Tillyer was now planning to sell his home.

His barrister Christopher Whitehouse said it had been an unplanned, unsophisticated and spontaneous offence.

"You had ample opportunity to hand those items to a member of staff and ample opportunity to report the fact you found them" - Recorder John Haines, to Tillyer

"It was a moment of madness and he had made no attempt to sell the items or dispose of them. He had been drinking on the train; whether that was one of the factors no-one can say."

He added that since the court case, Tillyer had lost his high-profile insurance job in London.

Prosecutor Neil Ross had told the jury the incident was caught on cameras showing sneak thief Tillyer taking the two items as the train arrived at Folkestone West station in January.

PC Jack Tomlin, from the British Transport Police, took stills from the video and confronted Tillyer two days later when he arrived at the station.

He told the officer: “This is a mistake. I haven’t stolen anything. I picked something up on the train.”

PC Tomlin said Tillyer then took him to a vehicle in the car park where the viola and its case and the schoolboy's rucksack were found.

The jury heard a statement from musician Edward Vanderspar, who had been recording with the LSO in Hampstead and had travelled to his home in Marden on the 16.32 London Cannon Street train.

He revealed that when he realised he had left the 16 Century instrument on the train, in desperation he dialled 999.

He said: “The train was busy. During the journey I was extremely tired and spent the journey reading and napping.

“When the train was approaching Marden I was in a daze from being so tired. I suddenly realised that I had to get off the train. I was in such a rush I forgot to get my viola.”

Mr Vanderspar said it was only when he got into his car at the station he realised the instrument was missing.

“I started panicking and I immediately rang 999 because the instrument is so important to me, not only professionally but also emotionally!

“My instinct was to try to chase the train but my knowledge of its route is not sufficient.

“After 48 hours of complete nightmare for me until I was told it had been recovered.”

The jury were shown footage showing Tillyer taking the rucksack and then walking towards the viola case.

Tillyer walked past, “stopping and appearing to look up and down the carriage before taking it from the shelf, having first looked at a label”.

The married man, who had no previous convictions or cautions, said he had got onto the train at Cannon Street with cans of strong lager to return home.

After sentencing, Detective Constable Bob Gee said: "This case should serve as a stark warning to anyone who even considers removing lost property from a train with the intention of keeping it for themselves.

"Items left behind on a train should always be handed in to train staff or a lost property office – if in doubt, leave the item for a member of staff to recover.

"If you remove someone else’s items from a train, and do not immediately hand them in to police or train staff, the likelihood is you will be identified and you will be caught. The railway network is a CCTV-rich environment and it is simply not worth the risk.

"I would also like to remind all passengers to remember to keep your belongings near you when you travel to avoid becoming a victim of crime."