'Dine and dash' couple jailed after racking up over £1,000 in bills

A married couple who committed serial “dine and dash” offences – racking up large bills for food and drink before leaving without paying – have been jailed.

 

Bernard McDonagh, 41, and Ann McDonagh, 39, both of Sandfields, Port Talbot, ordered three-course meals for themselves and their family including T-bone steaks and desserts, with some being sent back uneaten.

 

Swansea Crown Court heard the pair, who use more than 40 aliases and 18 dates of birth between them, dishonestly obtained food and drink at four restaurants and one takeaway in the south Wales area, with the unpaid bills totalling £1,168.10.

 

The couple, who pleaded guilty to five joint charges of fraud, were arrested after images of their scam were posted on social media.

 

Ann McDonagh also admitted four counts of shoplifting, including at designer store Tommy Hilfiger, taking items worth £1,017.60.

 

Judge Paul Thomas sentenced Ann McDonagh to 12 months in prison and Bernard McDonagh to eight months, telling them their actions could have been motivated by “pure and utter greed”.

 

He told them: “From the autumn of last year to spring of this year, you two set out on a deliberate course of sustained dishonesty.

 

“You would go to restaurants with your own family. You would have food and drink served to you to the value of hundreds of pounds and then you would cynically and brazenly leave without paying.

 

“You would order the most expensive items on the menu such as steaks in the full knowledge that you had no intention whatsoever of paying for them.”

 

The use of their children, who would wait in restaurants while the couple pretended to go to a cashpoint, was “ruthlessly exploitative”, the judge said.

 

In one incident on 27 March, the couple went to Isabella’s in Porthcawl and ordered £196 of food and drink. Ann McDonagh tried to pay with a card that was declined three times.

 

She told staff she would go to a cashpoint and left a child at the restaurant, who then ran out 10 minutes later.

 

Newly-opened Bella Ciao in Swansea was another restaurant that was targeted.

 

After dining with five other people, Ann McDonagh attempted to pay the £329.10 bill with a card that was declined.

 

She told staff she would get money from a cashpoint and left a teenager in the restaurant, who then ran away despite the restaurant owner trying to stop him.

 

In a victim personal statement, Giovan Cangelosi, of Bella Ciao, told how he feared for the security of his restaurant after putting images and details of the fraud online.

 

Describing the impact of the theft, he said: “I felt like I had not protected my restaurant and had failed as an owner.”

 

Representing Bernard McDonagh, Giles Hayes said his client had brought the money with him to court in order to pay it back.

 

He described father-of-six McDonagh as “deeply embarrassed and ashamed” by his actions.

 

Andrew Evans, representing Ann McDonagh, said she had suffered family bereavements and may have carried out the frauds “to try to make herself feel better”.