The second officers arrived on the dwelling of a married couple who left a sequence of pricy eating places with out paying for his or her meals has been shared by police. Bernard and Ann McDonagh focused 5 eating places throughout Swansea, Neath, Port Talbot and Porthcawl in a spree of so known as “dine and sprint” incidents.
In complete the couple, from Sandfields in Port Talbot, ate meals price greater than £1,000 from the institutions earlier than strolling away. They have been recognized after CCTV photographs have been posted on-line by annoyed enterprise house owners. You possibly can observe what occurred at their sentencing here.
Days after one enchantment by a newly-opened restaurant in Swansea was posted, the couple have been arrested at their Port Talbot dwelling.
Earlier this month the couple, of Western Avenue, every pleaded responsible to 5 counts of acquiring companies dishonestly at Swansea Magistrates Courtroom. Ann McDonagh was sentenced to 12 months in jail and Bernard McDonagh to eight months in jail.
Decide Paul Thomas KC stated other than “greed” being a motivation for the offending he believes the couple had derived a “buzz” from what they have been doing. He stated from every thing he had learn he was happy that Ann McDonagh was the main determine within the restaurant frauds, and he branded her a “fluent and practised liar”
Now, police have shared a video of the second they arrived on the dwelling in Sandfields to arrest the pair. The arresting officer informed Ann McDonagh: “You’re beneath arrest on suspicion of fraud my making off with out fee, your additionally beneath arrest for theft.”
She simply replies: “Alright.” It additionally reveals the second Bernard is arrested inside the home and led away in handcuffs, he seems to say nothing.
In his defence in court docket, advocate Giles Hayes, stated the father-of-six has been out of bother for the final 10 years and is “deeply embarrassed and ashamed” at his actions and had requested him to apologise to the victims in open court docket.
He says the defendant had come to court docket with money to pay your entire quantity of compensation after borrowing the cash from family and friends. The advocate added that after the story of what the couple did first appeared within the media, the home windows of the McDonaghs’ home in Sandfields have been put by means of, although the household had been out on the time.
After the sentencing, Inspector Andrew Hedley stated: “The prolific and brazen offending of Ann and Bernard McDonagh rightly caught the eye of a big proportion of the native public. It’s nice to see that justice has now been served within the type of these sentences and thank these members of public who assisted with the investigation.
“They intentionally ran up enormous payments at eating places which they’d no intention of paying. This had a major influence on the premises they focused, considered one of which was newly-opened on the time. Decreasing and stopping enterprise and retail crime is a precedence inside Swansea City, and any crime might be absolutely investigated, with these discovered offending, dropped at justice.
“Ann and Bernard McDonagh clearly felt that the legislation didn’t apply to them. This sentencing reveals that it does.”
Russell Greenslade, Chief Govt of Swansea BID, stated: “Our Enterprise Crime Discount partnership, funded and hosted by Swansea BID, performed an vital half in delivering this optimistic end result. Our free Sentrysis reporting platform, which we offer to our companies, was instrumental in facilitating this end result, enabling us to effectively observe and handle prison actions inside our Metropolis Centre enterprise group.
“The success of this case underscores the significance of our ongoing collaborative efforts with South Wales Police and the efficient use of our Sentrysis reporting platform, alongside the opposite companies and merchandise we offer our companies. Along with South Wales Police and different companions, we proceed to make Swansea Metropolis Centre a safer place for each companies and the broader group.”
