A bassoon was among items stolen from a car parked in St Neots at the weekend.

The woodwind instrument, which was in its case, belonged to Jennifer Orton-Jay, who was visiting her parents with her husband and three-year-old daughter.

Their car, an Audi, was parked on a drive off The Avenue and King’s Lane and was broken into overnight between Saturday and Sunday (December 14 and 15).

“In the morning the boot was open and we realised everything had gone,” said Mrs Orton-Jay, 36, a project manager for a software company, who has been playing the bassoon since she was 11. “There was a laptop, an iPad, a Kindle, which you assume you’ll never see again. But the bassoon is a bit more unusual. The people who stole it possibly aren’t going to know what to do with it. I’d had it about 23 years.”

Mrs Orton-Jay, who lives in London, is a member of Lambeth Orchestra and had been playing in a concert on Saturday.

The missing bassoon is a Monnig, serial number 166 82, and was in a black bag.

Anyone with information should contact police on 101, quoting crime reference CF0447621213.