Footage shows the moment a "dine and dash" couple who gorged themselves on more than £1,000 worth food and drink were caught by police.
Bernard and Ann McDonagh indulged in T-bone steaks, Chinese takeaway, and three-course banquets, racking up bills totalling more than £1,000 without paying up at the end.
But on the evening of April 19, their scheme was exposed at Bella Ciao, an Italian restaurant in Swansea. A large group ran up a bill of £329 by going "full-on with their order". When it came time to pay, most of the group left the restaurant, leaving one woman behind to settle the bill.
She attempted to pay the bill twice using a savings account, but both attempts were declined. She assured staff that she would leave a young member of the party behind while she went to her car to retrieve another bank card capable of covering the hefty bill.
However, she never returned, and the youngster received a phone call and promptly left, saying something along the lines of "oh no! I'll be there now". After sharing an image and an appeal for information on social media, Bella Ciao sparked a chain of events that led the local community to identify those involved, with other restaurants claiming they too had been victims of the same group's dine-and-dash tactics.
Bernard McDonagh, 41, and his wife Ann McDonagh, 39, were caught on CCTV dining at Bella Ciao, a scene that quickly went viral. The couple from Sandfields, Port Talbot, appeared before a judge at Swansea Crown Court to answer charges of fraud, having repeatedly dined and dashed, reported WalesOnline.
The couple booked a table at Bella Ciao under the pseudonym 'Lucy Logan', where they ordered a three-course meal for their party before leaving without paying. They also skipped out on a £267 bill at River House in Swansea in August last year. In just four months this year, they left La Casona in Skewen without settling a £267.60 bill in February, and failed to pay a £196 bill at Isabella's in Porthcawl in March.
In January, they ordered a Chinese takeaway worth £99.40 from Golden Fortune in Port Talbot, which was delivered to their home. After receiving the food, they abruptly closed the door on the delivery driver and ignored attempts to collect payment. The five incidents amounted to over £1,150 in unpaid food and drink bills. Manager at Las Casona, Kinga Szczesniak, expressed her shock at the deceitful act by seemingly "innocent looking" patrons. She recounted: "All the staff I spoke to said they never would have thought they would run away. They seemed super nice, they had an old man with a walking stick so they looked absolutely innocent."
Describing the moment the fraud unfolded, she explained: "When they went to pay they went out of the restaurant area so just two people came to pay. That's when I knew they were going to run. A lady tried her card and it was declined, she said she was going to go to her car to get another card. I asked the [other person] if they could stay [to make sure she came back to pay] then five seconds later they ran after her. The bill came to around £270 - it was huge."
Before the incident on February 24, Szczesniak noted that the restaurant staff had a trusting relationship with their customers, which has since been shattered. She added: "We are constantly looking at customers to make sure they pay. Around a week later we were even too scared to let customers go outside to have a drink or a cigarette because we weren't sure if they would come back. That was normal before."
Kinga concluded with a wary note: "I would say now we are more careful." Shirley, an employee at Golden Fortune, spoke to WalesOnline about the devastating impact on the business, describing it as "awful", especially during a time when many are struggling with the cost-of-living crisis. She said: "It's awful. It's already hard because everything is so expensive. It's a struggle for everyone, not just our business."
She further explained: "It means the business was already worse off [financially] and this incident meant we didn't have as much money left to pay our bills." She added: "I'm happy they are going to jail. I hope that everyone will see this and will think before they go and do bad things. We don't want this to happen to any other businesses again."
The McDonaghs' method of deception was simple yet effective. They would order large amounts of food and drink for themselves and their group, often leaving significant portions uneaten. When the bill arrived, their card payment would invariably fail. They would then ask staff where the nearest cash point was or if they could retrieve "another card" from a vehicle parked nearby.
This 'dine and dash' scheme was not the couple's first brush with the law. Mr McDonagh boasts a lengthy rap sheet with 27 previous convictions covering 40 offences, ranging from driving violations to violence and drug possession. His record includes 23 different aliases and eight different dates of birth listed on the police national computer.
Mrs McDonagh is similarly well-known to law enforcement, with 18 previous convictions for 36 offences, predominantly thefts and shoplifting. She also has charges for the fraudulent use of a registration mark, obstructing a police officer, and fraud by false representation. The 39-year-old has 20 aliases and 10 different dates of birth recorded on the police system.
In April, after being swindled out of over £300, Bella Ciao took to social media to express their frustration: "To the family who left the restaurant this evening without paying their £329 bill - shame on you!! We had no way of contacting you as the number you used to make the reservation was fake."
"To do this to anyone is disgusting but to do this to a newly open restaurant is even worse!" Tyrone Reese, the manager of the restaurant, shared with the Mirror : "They were ordering the most expensive things on the menu, like T-bone steaks and the like. My wife said 'something's not right'. They went full-on with their order but they were also sending plates back half empty."
La Casona in Skewen, another restaurant hit by the scam, explained: "After the meal, four people have already left our restaurant. One lady stayed...to 'pay'. The woman tried to pay with a card which was declined." They further revealed: "She said she would get another card from the car." But "10 seconds after", they ran to the car.
On Wednesday (May 29), the duo landed in Swansea Crown Court where they had previously admitted to five counts of fraud. Ann McDonagh had also formerly confessed to three counts of theft by shoplifting. The court sentenced Bernard McDonagh to eight months behind bars, while Ann McDonagh bagged 12 months.
Judge Paul Thomas KC voiced his opinion on the matter, saying: "Over a period of around eight months you two set up a deliberate course of sustained dishonesty. You would have food and drinks served to you to the value of hundreds of pounds and then cynically and brazenly leave without paying."
He continued: "You would order the most expensive items on the menu in full knowledge that you would not pay for them. You, Ann McDonagh, pretended that your card was not working, going off on the pretence that you were going to get cash." The McDonaghs, who have finally been brought to justice, were ordered to pay a total of £2,185 in compensation. This sum includes the unpaid restaurant bills and the value of items stolen by Ann McDonagh in separate incidents.
The payment must be made within seven days. Judge Thomas KC, while sentencing them to prison, told the couple that their dining spree was not about feeding their family or the group they were with. Instead, it was "criminality for criminality's sake". He added: "You both got a buzz on what you were able get away with."