by They were dining on T-bone steaks, Chinese takeaways and feasting on three-course feasts. Their bills totaled more than £1,000.
But Bernard and Ann McDonagh had no intention of paying. After the final exploit of the married couple ‘dinner and dash’, the public looked at what was going on.
It was on the evening of April 19 that the McDonaghs’ simple – but successful – plan came to the attention of the Italian restaurant Bella Ciao. The business only opened its doors in Swansea earlier that month, reports Wales Online.
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A large group racked up a bill of £329 after going “full on with their order”. When it came to pay the bill, the members of the group left the restaurant, and one woman stayed behind to pay.
She tried and failed to pay the bill twice using a savings account, which was declined. She told the staff that she would leave a young member of the party in the restaurant while she rushed to the car to get her other bank card that would be able to pay the large tab.
However, she did not return and the youngster then received a phone call and uttered the words “oh no! I’ll be there now” before running off. Sharing an image and appealing for information on social media, Bella Ciao set up a series of events that would bring the local community forward and help identify those involved, while other restaurants claimed to be also stuck by two 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 fraud offences. It emerged that the McDonaghs, of Sandfields, Port Talbot, had played the same trick over and over again.
At Bella Ciao, the table was reserved under the name ‘Lucy Logan’ and the group arrived at the restaurant and ordered a three course meal for everyone in the party. They also failed to pay a £267 bill at River House in Swansea in August last year, and within four months this year, as well as the Bella Ciao incident, they left £267.60 unpaid on a bill at La. Casona in Skewen in February, and a £196 bill was also unpaid at Isabella’s in Porthcawl in March.
In January, a Chinese takeaway costing a total of £99.40 was ordered from Golden Fortune in Port Talbot and delivered to the couple’s address. After the food was delivered, the door was suddenly closed against the delivery driver and attempts to get payment and get them to reopen the door were ignored.
The five incidents totaled more than £1,150 in unpaid food and drink bills. Speaking to WalesOnline after the hearing, business owners described their shock and dismay at the deception.
The manager at Las Casona, Kinga Szczesniak, said she could not believe that “innocent” customers could do something like this. She said: “All the staff I spoke to said they never thought they would get away. They looked very nice, they had an old man with a walking stick so they looked innocent.
“When they went to pay they went out of the restaurant area so only two people came to pay. That’s when I knew they were going to run. A woman tried her card and it was rejected, she said that she was going to her car to get another card [other person] if they could wait [to make sure she came back to pay] then five seconds later they ran after him. The bill came to about £270 – it was huge.”
Before the incident, which happened on February 24, she said the restaurant staff felt they could trust customers as nothing had happened before. However they are now anxious and always keep an eye out.
“I would say now we are more careful,” she said. “We are always watching customers to make sure they pay. About a week later we were too scared to let customers go outside to get a drink or a cigarette because we weren’t sure if they would come back. that was normal before.”
A worker at Golden Fortune, named Shirley, told WalesOnline the impact on the business was “horrendous”, coming at a time when so many are struggling with the cost of living crisis. She said: “It’s terrible. It’s already difficult because everything is so expensive. It’s a struggle for everyone, not just our business.”
“It means the business was already worse off [financially] and this incident meant we didn’t have much money left to pay our bills.” She added: “I’m glad they’re going to jail. I hope everyone will see this and think before they go and do bad things. We don’t want this to happen to any other businesses again.”
The pattern of deception for the Macdonalds seems to have been no more complicated than ordering them and the rest of the group to enjoy large quantities of food and drink, although not all of it was actually consumed. Sometimes they would order meals and desserts and leave large portions of it uneaten.
Then, after receiving the bill, an attempt to pay by card would always fail before the staff were asked where the nearest cash was or if it would be ok if they got “another card” be obtained from a vehicle parked nearby. The ‘dinne and dash’ crimes were certainly not the first time the couple had been in trouble with the law, either.
Bernard McDonagh has 27 previous convictions for 40 offenses including driving, affrée, public disorder, violence, criminal damage, and possession of controlled drugs. He has 23 different aliases on the national police computer, and eight different dates of birth recorded.
Ann McDonagh, meanwhile, has 18 previous convictions for 36 offenses including 24 thefts and shoplifting as well as fraudulent use of a registration mark, obstructing a police officer, and fraud by false representation. The 39-year-old has 20 different aliases recorded on the police national computer along with 10 different dates of birth.
After being left more than £300 out of pocket in April, Bella Ciao posted on social media: “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 booking was fake.”
“To do this to anyone is disgraceful but to do this to a newly opened restaurant is even worse!” The restaurant’s manager, Tyrone Reese, told the Mirror after the incident: “They were ordering the most expensive things on the menu, like T-bone steaks and the like. My wife said ‘there’s something not right. ‘. They went full with their order but were also sending back plates half empty.”
One of the other restaurants hit – La Casona in Skewen – was the victim of an almost identical act of behaviour. The restaurant said: “After the meal, we have already had four people leave the restaurant. One woman waited…to ‘pay’. The woman tried to pay with a card which was declined.”
“She said she would get another card from the car.” They said another member of the party stayed behind as she left, but “10 seconds later”, they ran to the car.
On Wednesday (May 29), the couple appeared at Swansea Crown Court after previously pleading guilty to five counts of fraud. Ann McDonagh also previously pleaded guilty to three counts of shoplifting. Bernard McDonagh was sentenced to eight months in prison, and Ann McDonagh was sentenced to 12 months in prison.
Addressing the couple in court, Judge Paul Thomas KC said: “Over a period of approximately eight months you both established a deliberate course of sustained dishonesty. You would be served hundreds of pounds worth of food and drinks and then cynically. and brazenly left unpaid.
“You would order the most expensive items on the menu knowing you wouldn’t pay for them. You, Ann McDonagh, thought your card wasn’t working, pretending you were going to get cash.”
With justice finally catching up with them, the McDonaghs were ordered to pay total compensation of £2,185 – a combination of unpaid restaurant bills and the value of items stolen in separate incidents by Ann McDonagh – alongside within seven days. Jailing them, Judge Thomas KC told the couple that their eating spree was not to feed their family and the group they were eating with, but was a case of “crime for the sake of crime”. there, adding: “You both got a buzz on what you were able to find out with him.”
