Couple dined and dashed... leaving meal bills of £1,168
A SNEAKY couple who racked up large restaurant bills before fleeing have got their just desserts.
Bernard McDonagh, 41, and wife Ann, 39, pleaded guilty to five joint charges of fraud yesterday.
The pair’s dine and dash campaign began on August 9 last year when they scoffed £267 of food and drink at River House in Swansea, despite “having no intention of paying for it”, city magistrates heard.
The pair then ordered £99 of food and drink from the Golden Fortune takeaway in Port Talbot without settling the bill on January 31.
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They did the same with £276 of meals from La Casona restaurant in Skewen on February 23.
On March 27, the couple, from Sandfields, Port Talbot, dishonestly obtained £196 of food and drink from Isabella’s in Porthcawl.
They committed the same offence again on April 19, taking £329 of food and drink from the newly opened Bella Ciao in Swansea.
The city’s magistrates’ court heard the five offences totalled £1,168.
District Judge Chris James sent the case to Swansea Crown Court for sentence on May 29.
The case emerged after Bella Ciao reported a family had left without paying a bill worth £329.
The restaurant said a woman “tried” to pay with a savings account card which was declined twice.
She then told staff her son would wait inside while she went to fetch a different card.
The post said: “Of course she does not return and then the son receives a phone call and says he has to go and does a runner.”
Bella Ciao said the family had given a “fake” number to reserve a table. It said: “To do this to anyone is disgusting but to do this to a newly open restaurant is even worse.”
The River House, which was the first venue to suffer, said: “We are delighted to hear that justice has, at last, caught up with the pair.
“We are grateful to the public who have not only been a huge help in tracking down these criminals, but also for their huge amount of support and messages of support.”