Musician loses £7,000 of kit after van is broken into in Leeds city centre

Graeme Law was on his way to Ripon to perform when he parked up in Edward Street car park to get some lunch.

Graeme, who was a student in Huddersfield, said: “I grabbed something to eat with a friend then went back to the van just after 5 pm and found that the ignition was all chewed and there were cables hanging down from the steering column.

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“Looking in the back of the van I saw that everything had been taken. The vibraphone, my stick bag where I keep all of my percussion sticks and mallets, suit, weekend clothes - even the gym bag.”

Police said it happened some time between 2.30pm-5.05pm on Friday April 12.

The stick bag was worth just under £2,000 and the vibraphone £5,000.

“It’s a massive loss,” Graeme said.

Graeme, from Cardiff, was on his way to play John Williams’ Escapades with award-winning saxophonist Jess Gillam.

“I ended up spending the night in Leeds driving around looking but couldn’t find anything,” he added.

“I went to the concert on Saturday and had to borrow a vibraphone, sticks and clothes to play in

“Thankfully the gig went really well.”

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Graeme currently plays The Cory Brass Band - ranked number one in the world - and before that played with the Brighouse and Rastrick brass band.

“Later this month Cory go to Switzerland for a European contest and I’m going to have to borrow everything which is far from ideal,” Graeme added.

He is calling on anyone who has any information to come forward.

Anyone with information can contact police on 101, quoting crime reference 13190190079.