Were there a Guinness Book of Records entry for shoplifting, then surely Bianca Mirica would be in it.

How much do you think she stole from branches of Boots across London – always Boots, always perfumes and cosmetics – in just six months between December 2023 and May last year?

Answer: £120,000. At least that's what Mirica, 20, a Romanian mother of three, admitted to after she was finally caught, Southwark Crown Court heard this week.

But Boots suspect the real figure, police sources told us, was a staggering £300,000 (£299,000 to be exact).

You can buy a detached house in some parts of the country for less.