A married couple have been charged following an alleged string of ‘dine and dash’ crimes and shoplifting.

Ann McDonagh, 39, and Bernard McDonagh, 41, both from Sandfields in Port Talbot, have been charged with five counts of fraud while Ann McDonagh has also been charged with four counts of theft.

They are currently in police custody at Swansea Central police station and will appear in court next month over crimes at five restaurants in a 30-mile radius.

South Wales Police said: ‘Our investigation is ongoing.’

The alleged ‘dine and dashes’ saw restaurants out of pocket for meals worth more than £1,000.

Restaurants posted appeals to identify the mystery family who ordered slap-up meals before fleeing.

Kinga Szczesniak, the manager at La Casona, in Skewen, Neath, said: ‘I have been waiting two months for any contact from the police. They didn’t even check CCTV records that I sent them after it happened.’

She claimed the case had only now been escalated because of posts on Facebook.

‘Yesterday they asked me for recordings again,’ she said. ‘I said I already sent them before. The response was, “that was long ago” so they don’t have them.

The latest alleged incident was at newly-opened restaurant Bella Ciao in Swansea with a £329 bill.

The Yard in Cowbridge, River House in Swansea, and The Longbow Beefeater in Pontyclun have also gone public with appeals for restaurants to beware.

Source:
courtesy of METRO

by Jen Mills

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