The woman, 34, kept watch while her boyfriend, 42, fleeced goods from the shelf of the supermarket on via Quaglia in the outskirts of the capital.

Her lover soon abandoned his partner-in-crime after realising he’d been spotted, leaving her to be arrested and detained at a nearby police station.

The boyfriend later turned up at the police station, in a stolen car, asking after the well-being of his partner. He was then taken to a separate police station.

The pair were well-known in the capital following a series of thefts.