Ann and Bernard McDonagh were jailed after a judge told them their actions had been motivated by ‘pure and utter greed’
These are the police mugshots of the Irish married couple who have been jailed in the UK for multiple ‘dine and dash’ offences in south Wales.
Bernard McDonagh (41), and wife Ann (39), with addresses in Sandfields, Port Talbot, hit the headlines in the UK this week after they admitted to a spree of ‘dine and dash’ thefts in south Wales where they live.
Both Bernard and Ann hail from Ballyhaunis, Co Mayo, where his father Bernard ‘The Foal’ McDonagh is a well-known TikTok character
Swansea Crown Court 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.
The couple, who pleaded guilty to five joint charges of fraud, were arrested after images of their scam were posted on social media.
Ann McDonagh also admitted four counts of shoplifting, including at designer store Tommy Hilfiger, taking items worth £1,017.60.
Watch the moment police arrested a couple after non-payment of restaurant bills and shoplifting
This week, Ann McDonagh was sentenced to 12 months in prison and Bernard McDonagh 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 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.
Other restaurants in the region fell victim to the same scammers, who were quickly recognised by locals.
Both Bernard’s father Bernard ‘The Foal’ McDonagh is a well-known TikTok character.
The dine and dasher is one of 14 children to ‘The Foal’ McDonagh and his recently deceased wife Rose, who was laid to rest in Ballyhaunis in December 2022.
They attempted to cover up their faces as they arrived at court in Swansea where photographers and camera crews waited for their arrival. The couple made no comment.
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.
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 ranged up to Stg£300.
It was heard in court that the couple both had previous convictions for fraud.
The Foal McDonagh is known for his quirky social media posts in which has referred to himself as the ‘King of Ballyhaunis’.
He appears in one clip with his son Bernard, in which he introduces him as the next ‘king’ when he dies.
Standing beside a statue of two men making a deal over a pig, the pair shake hands and give a thumbs up to the camera.
In another clip, The Foal stands behind the beer taps of a bar which he claims to have just bought as he pulls and then downs a pint.
A regular on TikTok, another clip features him asking Google who is the King of Ballyhaunis, before the system answers: “According to TikTok, Foal McDonagh, King of Ballyhaunis, this is my town.”
Another video shows The Foal, who now lives in Kent, visiting a site at Swansea where he used to live.
“This is me in Swansea, south Wales, thinking about the good old days,” he said, adding that he kept horses there which he’d brought from Ireland.
Grief-stricken by the passing of his wife, The Foal and his family have erected an elaborate memorial at the local cemetery in Ballyhaunis.
It towers above other graves and had to be lifted into place by a crane.
The memorial also has a bench for grave visitors to sit while paying their respects and is inscribed with the words: “Gold Rose, Queen of Ireland, all my cares and troubles cease, as I kneel before you, Lady of Knock, My Queen of Peace.”
At Swansea Crown Court this week, Giles Hayes representing Bernard McDonagh, described the father-of-six as “deeply embarrassed and ashamed” by his actions and said his client had brought money with him to court in order to pay it back.
Andrew Evans, representing Ann McDonagh, said she had suffered family bereavements and may have carried out the frauds “to try to make herself feel better”.
However, Judge Paul Thomas told the couple: “You were not going to these places to feed you and your family, it was criminality for criminality’s sake – to see if you could get away with it.
“I have no doubt, apart from the greed element, you had got a buzz out of what you were able to get away with on a regular basis.”
The judge added that the behaviour of the family, from the traveller community, would “fuel and reinforce” negative stereotypes.
