An 81-year-old survivor of the Siege of Leningrad arrested for allegedly stealing butter in the shop has died from a suspected heart attack.

CCTV footage of the incident, shown on YouTube, shows Rauza Galimova paying for her shopping at a local supermarket on the outskirts of St Petersburg.The elderly woman is then stopped by a member of staff, who puts her shopping basket to one side and asks the shopper to wait.

Ms Galimova looks distraught as a police officer comes to arrest her for allegedly trying to steal butter that cost the equivalent of £3.

The elderly woman later became unwell in the police station where she was being held and paramedics were called but they were too late to save her.

After investigating the CCTV footage, prosecutors told the Russian Radio Service that Ms Galimova did not try to steal the butter, she just did not notice it under her purse - she offered to pay for it when it was discovered.

A criminal investigation has been launched into the actions of the shop employees and police officers involved.

The news comes a week after expensive celebrations of the 71st anniversary of the end of the siege of Leningrad - now St Petersburg - during World War II.

More than 600,000 people starved to death during the Nazis' blockade of Leningrad that lasted from 1941 to 1944.

Survivors of World War II and the siege of Leningrad are revered in Russian society and the case has sparked outrage among the public.

Emma Leshina, a representative of the organisation of Citizens of Blockaded Leningrad, who knew the Ms Galimova, told journalists that the old lady had a relatively good pension - the equivalent of £250 - and had no reason to steal.

"You should understand, I don't want to say that she was slightly out of her mind, but we are all old, many of us are losing our memory."

The boss of the shop involved defended his employees, tsaying he company had a rule that police should be called if someone was caught stealing.

However, he said on Twitter that: "due to the age of the woman, they shouldn't have called the police".

Vladimir Markin, the man in charge of investigating the case later said through Twitter: "Those people either don't have brains or shame."

(Sky News)