A HASTILY-scribbled note from a kind-hearted stranger was music to the ears of a distraught musician who had lost his custom-made clarinet.

Internationally-renowned clarinettist Michael Whight had been in Darlington a matter of minutes for a Northern Sinfonia concert on Friday when his £1,800 clarinet was stolen.

But yesterday officers going to work at North Road police station discovered a package on the doorstep - with an anonymous note.

The letter said the clarinet had been found in a skip, and after trying to sell it, the anonymous stranger heard it had been stolen and returned it.

The end of the note reads: "Hope this helps".

As reported in The Northern Echo yesterday, Royal Philharmonic lead clarinettist Mr Whight was forced to play two concerts - one of them in Darlington's Dolphin Centre - on a borrowed instrument.

Last night, he said: "I'm absolutely delighted. I think this person, whoever it is, must have read the piece in The Northern Echo and decided to return it.

"I'm very grateful to this person, to the newspaper and to the police for helping to get it back."

The clarinet had been custom-made for Mr Whight, a professor at the Trinity College of Music, in London, and he had been using the instrument for 20 years.

He said that it had been "incredibly difficult" to play as a guest for the Northern Sinfonia on a borrowed instrument.

The clarinet was stolen from a meeting room in the Dolphin Centre while Mr Whight had a cup of tea with a colleague.

Soon afterwards there were reports of a man trying to sell it in some of the town's music shops. But they all turned him away, believing it to be suspicious.

PC Anna Jakubowiak, of Darlington Police, said: "I think the thief must have thought the case was a handbag or a camera and when he opened it, realised it was a clarinet and got rid of it."

Mr Whight said he would try to get the clarinet sent to him, but if not, he would be collecting it personally.