Infamous dine-and-dash couple from Co Mayo caught after CCTV footage ‘went viral'
The couple, who pleaded guilty to five joint charges of fraud, both hail from Ballyhaunis, Co Mayo.
Now, South Wales Police Inspector Andrew Hedley has said that footage of their crime 'exploded' on social media, resulting in their arrest.
"There was a huge outcry over what these people were doing," he told BBC's Strange But True Crime podcast.
"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."
The couple went viral after a furious restaurateur posted CCTV images of the McDonaghs and their party of eight fleeing his trendy Italian eatery after failing to pay a hefty bill.
One video had 12 million views in less than a month as a campaign took hold to bring the dine-and-dashers to book.
Restaurants had reported the couple turning up with a family group ordering food and drinks and leaving one or two people behind to pay the bill.
The card would be declined, and they would offer to go back to their vehicle to get another card or to an ATM for cash — but then disappear.
The scams left some of the small local businesses 'devastated' as the bills left unpaid often came to hundreds of pounds.
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Swansea Crown Court previously heard the pair, who used more than 40 aliases and 18 dates of birth between them, dishonestly obtained food and drink at four restaurants and one takeaway in the south Wales area, with the unpaid bills totalling £1,168.10.
Ann McDonagh also admitted four counts of shoplifting, including at designer store Tommy Hilfiger, taking items worth £1,017.60.
In May 2024, Ann was sentenced to 12 months in prison and Bernard to eight months, after a judge told them their actions had been motivated by 'pure and utter greed'.
Judge Paul Thomas told them: 'From the autumn of last year to spring of this year, you two set out on a deliberate course of sustained dishonesty.
'You would go to restaurants with your own family. You would have food and drink served to you to the value of hundreds of pounds and then you would cynically and brazenly leave without paying.
'You would order the most expensive items on the menu such as steaks in the full knowledge that you had no intention whatsoever of paying for them.'
The judge said that using children to wait in the restaurants, who would then run off while pretending to go to a cashpoint, was 'ruthlessly exploitative'.
The McDonaghs pleaded guilty to five counts of fraud over their dine and dash escapades, totalling £1,168. Mrs McDonagh also admitted to shoplifting £1,017 in goods from Tommy Hilfiger, Sainsbury's and Tesco, and obstructing a police officer.
The court heard that the couple both had previous convictions for fraud.
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