GENOVA – A 50-year-old English painter was arrested in the glitzy coastal town of Portofino after her attempts to steal a 150 thousand-euro Sangermani yacht fell through, officials said.

 Amid the colour-washed surroundings, Larissa Watson put down palette and brush, capitalising on artistic license, to take the wheel of the locally-owned Day Cruiser.

 Yet, the painter’s hopes of sailing away in her newly-acquired yacht were thrown overboard after a suspicious harbour worker spotted her sneaking around the vessel and raised the alarm.

 Having released the moorings, Ms Watson found the keys in the yacht’s cabin, but was caught moments before steering clear of the port. Realising she was not a member of the crew, the harbour worker clambered onto the boat and was able to redirect its path back the shore.

 Carabinieri seized the nerveless painter, who is also an award-winning designer, after she initially refused to disembark, resisting arrest.

 It is not the first time Ms Watson has been accused of theft in Italy since her arrival in February, leaving behind her two children in the United Kingdom. She has received several complaints of dodging hotel expenses, scarpering from restaurants before paying the bill and even sleeping in a Lombardy hotel room which had been booked by other visitors, confidently asking for the keys to room 133.

 She had also been reported to local police on June 2 having allegedly run off without paying for beauty treatments worth 150 euros in a Santa Margherita salon.

 Italian newspaper, La Rivieria referred to the Hollywood-worthy “double life of Larissa Watson,” who they saw as an “esteemed artist” in Britain, but a serial thief in Italy.

 “Nothing like this has happened before in Portofino, it’s very unusual,” said Captain Simone Clemente, commander of the Carabinieri of Santa Margherita Ligure, having arrested Canterbury-born painter, who has exhibited her work across the United States, Europe and Japan.

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