Historic £80,000 violin is at centre of legal battle after one of world’s leading players bought it from his ex-pupil for half-price while she was ‘desperate’ for cash three years ago

• Ruzica West agreed to sell her £80,000 violin to her former tutor for £40,000
• Professor Mateja Marinkovic handed over £26,000 in cash plus a French violin 
• It was claimed the French violin was worth between £12,000 and £14,000
• However, a subsequent appraisal valued the French instrument as worth £1,500 

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A historic £80,000 violin is at the centre of a court fight between one of the world’s leading classical musicians and his former pupil.

Renowned violinist, Professor Mateja Marinkovic, is battling his gifted former student Ruzica West over an 18th century Landolfi violin which she says she sold to him when ‘desperate’ for cash three years ago.

Ms West, 36, of Ilford, Essex, claims that Prof Marinkovic – formerly her tutor at the Purcell School of Music, a specialist school for musically gifted children in Bushey, Hertfordshire – did not pay in full for the antique instrument.

Ruzica West, left, pictured alongside her mother Olgica West outside Central London County Court is suing her former mentor Professor Mateja Marinkovic over a historic violin 

Prof Marinkovic claims he does not owe Ms West anything having given her £26,000 in cash plus a valuable French violin

Ms West is suing Prof Marinkovic at Central London County Court claiming the maestro, who is currently working in China, left her £14,000 out of pocket.

But Prof Marinkovic insists he does not owe his former student a penny, having already handed her £26,000 cash, plus a valuable French violin, in exchange for the Landolfi.

Ms West and her mother Olgica West, 61, told Judge Ian Avent she agreed to sell the 250-year-old instrument to Prof Marinkovic – one of the leading violinists of his generation – in 2016.

Ms West said outside court that the Landolfi was given to her by her grandmother in 2002 as she set out on her musical career, and was valued for insurance purposes at £80,000.

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But she agreed to take £40,000 from Prof Marinkovic for her cherished violin because she wanted a quick sale.

Her former tutor paid her £26,000 in cash, plus a French violin, the court was told.

Ms West told the judge that Prof Marinkovic has now relocated to China with £14,000 still owing, due to the French violin being worth far less than she was told.

As well as suing Prof Marinkovic, she and her mother are bringing a claim against the valuer of the French piece.

Olgica West claimed that Prof Marinkovic had said in 2016 that he thought the 19th century French violin which was included in the deal was worth over £12,000.

‘I believe that Mateja gave an assurance to us that the French violin was worth between £12,000 to £14,000,’ she told the judge.

But a professional valuation in November 2017 came up with a price of just £1,500, she told the court.

Prof Marinkovic was described by Judge Avent as a ‘leading protagonist because he was the contracting party’.

The professor, who previously taught at the Royal Academy of Music, is now ‘somewhere in China’, the judge noted.

He is described by the Royal Academy of Music, where he is an honorary associate, as ‘one of the leading violinists, recording artists and teachers of his generation’.

Neither Prof Marinkovic nor his representatives were in court during the brief pre-trial hearing.

Judge Avent told Ms West and her mother: ‘I don’t need to remind you that you should have got all the money before you parted company with your Landolfi. Your problem is that you parted with this violin before you got all the money.’

After an hour in court the judge adjourned the case – to be fixed for hearing in a few months’ time.

Outside court afterwards, Ms West explained how she first got to know Prof Marinkovic while studying under him at the Purcell School of Music in 1997.

Olgica West said Ruzica’s grandmother had bought the violin for her, having done her best to inspire her love of music since childhood.

‘From an early age, she recognised and nurtured my daughter’s talent,’ she said.

Ruzica went on to carve out a career as a singer, violinist and teacher, but by 2016 she had hit hard times.

Money pressures forced her to sell the treasured instrument three years ago, she said.

‘I was desperate. Three years ago, I decided to sell it to Mateja,’ she said.

‘He told me it was a very good violin and that he wanted to help me.

‘I was desperate and needed the money, and I had to accept his offer because, if I had taken it to an auctioneer, I would have waited for a long time for it to be resold.

‘Mateja was offering some of the money straight away.’

Both mother and daughter said they had been badly affected by the stress of the court case.

Ms West, whose family are from Serbia, said she had found the case in some ways more distressing than enduring the air bombardment of Belgrade in 1999.

‘It has caused me the highest possible level of stress,’ she explained.

The case will return to court on a date to be set.

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