A musician was reunited with his stolen £2,000 baritone horn after a fellow band member turned sleuth to catch the thieves.

The horn player, from the famous Yorkshire Building Society brass band, left the instrument in his car.

When he awoke the next morning, the car had been broken into and the horn was gone.

Little did he know he would be playing it again before the day was out, thanks to a fellow musician acting amateur detective.

The musician and his wife decided to visit shops to see if anyone had tried to sell the horn.

As they were leaving a music shop, they noticed two people entering with a baritone horn case. The detective couple called the police who reached the shop quickly enough to apprehend the pair.

By then, the horn had already been sold - for just £50.

"Baritone horns are large, and its unusual to see someone carrying one around," band spokesman Emma Burge said. "Obviously the couple were suspicious." Finding the horn was certainly a relief to the band members, who rehearse intensively to live up to their international reputation.

The outfit has been European brass band of the year five times running, claiming its most recent title in Norway last month.

Bereft of his baritone, the musician could well have been left out of forthcoming concerts.

"It would have caused problems if the horn had been lost," said Ms Burge.

"They tend to have a lot of ad hoc events come up, charity events in particular. I don't know how available these things are but it would have certainly been expensive to replace."

l A 28-year-old man and a 33-year-old woman from Bradford were arrested on suspicion of theft and have been bailed pending further inquiries.