Police arrest burglary suspects at Valentine's Day dinner

Couple placed in handcuffs outside high-end restaurant in London’s Mayfair

A couple walk down the street on Valentine's Day (File picture AFP via Getty Images)

Police spoiled a couple’s Valentine’s Day meal at a luxury restaurant by swooping in to arrest them in connection with a burglary.

Officers lay in wait for the man and woman, aged in their thirties, after they booked a reservation in central London’s Mayfair district.

They moved in as the pair walked to their lunch appointment before leading them away in handcuffs in Bruton Street on Friday afternoon.

The man was detained on suspicion of burglary while the woman was held on suspicon of handling a stolen designer handbag.

In a statement, the Metropolitan Police described the arrest as a “Valentine’s Day swoop” which forced the couple to “swap sweet nothings for handcuffs”.

“They were looking forward to a romantic lunch at a top flight restaurant when detectives keen to question them about a couple of residential burglaries turned up and spoiled the celebration,” a spokesperson added.

Officers had been investigating the theft of high-value clothes and handbags from a woman’s home in Bruton Lane, Mayfair, on 3 February.

They identified the male suspect on CCTV and traced his movements back to the restaurant in Bruton Street minutes before the burglary.

When police attended the establishment they were told the man had booked a table for two for lunch on Valentine’s Day.

Following their arrest by the Westminster burglary squad, the couple were taken into custody at a central London police station at 1.30pm.