Shop staff chased a suspected shoplifter around Dartmouth for more than half an hour on St Valentine's Day after he was spotted trying to steal hundreds of pounds worth of perfume from Boots the Chemist.

At one stage the 35-year-old man allegedly dropped his trousers and indecently exposed himself to his pursuers – one of whom was a woman – in an attempt to frighten them off.

It didn't work and the pursuit continued until the man was finally arrested by police.

Boots manager Andrew Horton said afterwards: 'You expect them to run away. You don't expect them to stop and drop their trousers.'

The incident started at around 4pm on Tuesday after the man from Torquay was allegedly spotted taking perfume from the store shelves and hiding them in other parts of the shop.

When he left he was followed by Mr Horton and a woman member of staff as he started walking and runing around the town to try to shake them off.

Mr Horton said the pair followed him to St Saviour's Church which was where the man then allegedly dropped his trousers.

They then pursued him around the riverfront to the ferry and then to the Royal Avenue Gardens. Part of the time he was running, said Mr Horton.

At one point, the woman staff member had to give up and Mr Horton was joined by a member of the public.

The shop had already called 999 and police officers from Totnes eventually caught up with all of them in the town centre and arrested the alleged shoplifter.

'Originally I shouted for him, to stop but he wouldn't,' said Mr Horton. 'We followed him for 35 minutes around the town.'

He said the man dropped his trousers while the woman staff member was close to him.

He added: 'It did not phase her too much and she carried on following him with me.

'As far as I am concerned, we did what we needed to do and I don't think he will be back here.'

He said the man has been caught on CCTV attempting to steal some £200 worth of perfume from the store.

A police spokesman confirmed a man had been arrested in Dartmouth on suspicion of attempted theft and indecent exposure.

He has been released on bail while police inquiries continue.