Moment worlds of 'dine and dash' couple who gorged on meals without paying came crashing down
30.05.2024 - 06:53
/ manchestereveningnews.co.uk
They dined on T-bone steaks, feasted on Chinese takeaway and gorged on three-course banquets. Their bills came to more than £1,000 in total.
But Bernard and Ann McDonagh had no intention of paying. After the married couple's final 'dine and dash' exploit, the community clocked on to what was going on.
It was the evening of April 19 that the McDonaghs' simple - yet successful - plan came to the attention of Italian restaurant Bella Ciao. The business had only opened its doors in Swansea earlier that month, Wales Online reports.
READ MORE: 'I had only been speaking to her a few days before. When I got the call I just screamed'
A large group amassed a bill of £329 after going "full-on with their order". When it came to paying the bill, members of the group left the restaurant, while one woman stayed behind to pay.
She tried and failed to pay the bill twice using a savings account, which was declined. She told staff that she would leave a young member of the party in the restaurant while she dashed to the car to get her other bank card which would be capable of paying the large tab.
However, she did not come back and the youngster then received a phone call and said words to the effect of "oh no! I'll be there now" before running off. Sharing an image and an appeal for information on social media, Bella Ciao set off a chain of events which would see the local community come forward and help identify those involved, with other restaurants claiming they too had been stung by two people in the same group.
CCTV of Bernard McDonagh, 41, and his wife Ann McDonagh, 39, inside Bella Ciao went viral, and just over a month later they faced a judge at Swansea Crown Court to be sentenced for offences of fraud. It transpired that