Last month, one of the most shameless and outrageous examples of dine-and-dashing in history occurred after a family-of-eight stuffed their fat faces at an Italian restaurant in Wales, and then left without paying their £329 bill.
Bella Ciao Italian restaurant in Port Talbot, Wales, said the diners ordered expensive steaks, 15 bottles of fizzy drinks and multiple desserts.
CCTV shows the mum in the group initially trying to pay with a savings account card, which was reportedly declined twice.
She then told staff her son would wait inside while she ‘got her other card’ – but of course, they vanished instead.
Obviously, there’s no way you’re dine-and-dashing in 2024 without having your mugs plastered all over social media, and sure enough the story went viral and eventually the mum and dad masterminding the free meal operation were tracked down and arrested, and have now been sent to prison.
It turns out Bernard and Ann McDonagh were serial dine-and-dashers, and had targeted five restaurants in the Swansea, Neath, Port Talbot and Porthcawl areas of Wales, running up total bills worth more than £1,000 after making reservations under fake names.
The couple, from Sandfields in Port Talbot, pleaded guilty to five counts of obtaining services dishonestly at Swansea magistrates court earlier this month.
Returning to the same court this week, Ann was sentenced to 12 months in prison, and Bernard to eight months. Apparently Ann McDonagh wore the pants in this restaurant fraud scheme, with the judge branding her a ‘fluent and practised liar’.
If you’re interested, the Metro has helpfully compiled a list/timeline of the McDonagh family’s dine-and-dash escapades:
August 9, 2023
The McDonaghs attended the River House in Swansea’s SA1 with a group of others and racked up a bill of £267.60.
Ann’s card payment failed and asked staff where the nearest ATM was, but didn’t return.
A member of the group who stayed in the restaurant then ran off.
January 31, 2024
A Chinese Takeaway was ordered from the Golden Fortune in Taibach, Port Talbot, and delivered to the McDonagh family home.
After the food was handed over the front door was shut and no payment was made. They refused to answer the door and phone calls from the takeaway.
The cost of the order came to £99.40.
February 23, 2024
The McDonaghs ordered three course meals for themselves and four others at La Casona in Skewen, running up a bill of £276.60.
Once again, Ann’s card payment failed and they left under the guise of getting another card from the car. One younger member of the party who stayed behind ran off after a few minutes.
March 27, 2024
The McDonaghs and three others went to Isabella’s in Porthcawl and racked up a bill of £196.50.
They then left without paying after again pretending that Ann’s card had failed and they were going to get cash.
April 19, 2024
The last incident happened at Bella Ciao just three weeks after the restaurant opened.
They left without paying their bill of £329.10.
TOTAL COST OF UNPAID BILLS: £1,169.20
That’s a lot of free food. Although the couple have also been ordered to pay compensation amounting to the total of their unpaid restaurant bills, so I guess it wasn’t free in the end. The good news is that the meals are totally free where they’re headed now. Bon Appetit!
For the Clacton-on-Sea couple who were caught cracking up laughing as they dine-and-dashed from a Greek restaurant in Essex, click HERE.
