Karyn Louise Crittenden, 31, pleaded guilty in the Brisbane District Court on Thursday to six charges relating to a crime spree that lasted more than a week and included robbing the tourists of their campervan.

Crittenden and Anthony Brian Melit stole the van from an isolated camping site near Woodford, north of Brisbane, on May 14 last year.

The mother-of-four also pleaded guilty to robbing a woman of her car in the Currumbin Fair Shopping Centre on the Gold Coast the day before the campervan theft.

Crittenden told the driver she had a knife and needed a car to get across the border.

"She (the driver) did not see a knife, but believed you had one," Judge Geraldine Dann told Crittenden.

Judge Dann said the level of violence Crittenden used was "minimal to non-existent", but she had pushed the driver away from her car before stealing it.

Crittenden was given a head sentence of three-and-a-half years' imprisonment for the armed robbery in the car park.

She was also handed a two-year jail sentence to be served concurrently for robbery in company over the campervan theft.

The jail terms were fully suspended for four years.

Judge Dann said she took into account the 86 days Crittenden had spent in custody after her arrest on May 22, 2019.

Crittenden was also ordered to pay $6800 in compensation to the French couple for the van and their belongings.

Melit is expected to be sentenced on October 15.

Australian Associated Press