A MARRIED couple who shamelessly dined at restaurants across South Wales before fleeing without paying have been jailed, after leaving a trail of unpaid bills totalling more than £1,000.
Bernard and Ann McDonagh, from Sandfields in Port Talbot, targeted five restaurants over an eight-month period, repeatedly ordering lavish meals — including T-bone steaks and double helpings of dessert — before making off without settling the bill. Shockingly, they even roped their children into the scheme.
Their run of deceit finally came to an end when CCTV images shared by one of the affected restaurants on Facebook went viral across South and West Wales. The post sparked widespread outrage and prompted a wave of social media sleuthing, ultimately leading to the couple’s arrest.
The first known offence occurred in August 2023 at The River House in Swansea, where the couple racked up a £267 bill. Emboldened by their success, they went on to strike at Golden Fortune in Port Talbot, La Casona in Skewen, and Isabella’s in Porthcawl.
Then, in April 2024, they attempted the same ploy at Bella Ciao — a newly opened restaurant in Swansea. The couple feasted on the most expensive items on the menu, pushing the bill to £329, before vanishing once again without paying.
The owners of Bella Ciao, devastated by the incident, reported the matter to police and posted CCTV stills on Facebook. The images quickly gained traction, circulating widely throughout South and West Wales, where members of the public began to piece together the couple’s identity and movements. The mounting pressure online prompted police to confirm they were investigating multiple reports of making off without payment.
Speaking to the BBC’s Strange But True Crime podcast, Inspector Andrew Hedley of South Wales Police recalled how the viral post changed the course of the investigation.
“There was a huge outcry over what these people were doing,” he said. “There was a need to collectively bring this together under one umbrella and get a grip of it really quickly, before it escalated. It was a brazen disregard for the law.”
Following a swift investigation, the McDonaghs were arrested and, in May 2024, both pleaded guilty to multiple counts of making off without paying. Ann McDonagh received a 12-month custodial sentence, while Bernard McDonagh was jailed for eight months.
In court, it emerged that the couple had a rehearsed strategy, which they repeated at each venue. Mr McDonagh would leave the restaurant first with several children, while one child remained with Mrs McDonagh to give the impression that payment was forthcoming. When her card was inevitably declined, she would claim she needed to visit a nearby cashpoint and leave the child behind as supposed proof of her intention to return. Moments later, the child would disappear too — all part of the ruse.
Swansea Crown Court also heard that Mrs McDonagh had committed additional offences, including shoplifting and resisting arrest. She even falsely claimed to be pregnant in an attempt to avoid being taken into custody. Judge Paul Thomas KC described her as a “prolific liar”.
In mitigation, it was suggested Mrs McDonagh was struggling with grief following family bereavements and was “trying to make herself feel better”. Her husband’s barrister said the father-of-six was “deeply embarrassed and ashamed”. But the court remained unmoved.
Judge Thomas told them: “Over a period of around eight months, you two set out on a deliberate course of sustained dishonesty. You would go into restaurants with your young family, you would have food and drink served to you, to the value of hundreds of pounds, then you would cynically leave without paying.”
He described the use of their children as “ruthlessly exploitative” and the crimes as “carefully pre-planned to a specific pattern” motivated by “pure and utter greed”.
With the couple now behind bars, those who were left out of pocket by their shameless scams can finally say justice has been served — even if it came long after the plates were cleared.
