KNOWN for its ales and hearty roasts, it was a busy Sunday afternoon at the Castle Inn when a couple appeared to be leaving without paying.
Kerry Ann Stevens and her boyfriend Daniel Alani had scoffed a prawn cocktail, breaded mushrooms and two roast chicken mains with extra lamb on the side.
They washed the lot down with a glass of Pinot Grigio wine, two cokes and an orange juice before it is claimed they tried to exit without settling up their £62.20 bill.
It was then that locals at the 17th Century family-run pub in the pleasant Essex village of Little Wakering took matters into their own hands.
Landlord Ken Todd, 76, told me: “Our locals are very loyal and wouldn’t let them leave until the police arrived.
“The woman apparently tried to get out the toilet window but there are bars up.
“The guy tried to go out the back door which I’d already locked because we were aware of what they were trying to do.”
CCTV footage shown to The Sun reveals staff and customers preventing the pair from fleeing the pub.
Dad-of-three Ken says Stevens then spun a story that her father would pay but was at A&E with a relative.
Disgraced solicitor Stevens has become something of an unlikely poster girl for the crime phenomenon known as “dine and dash”.
Although no figures are available solely for the scam that is blighting small businesses across Britain, industry insiders believe it is on the rise with recent spikes in South Wales and Cornwall.
Various ruses are employed. Some eat their meal then pretend it was substandard before refusing to pay.
Others, after sizing up a premises’ exit routes, simply make a run for it after a slap-up feed.
Many are serial offenders, seemingly becoming addicted to being waited on hand and foot with no intention of picking up the tab.
One recent dine and dasher even bought a round for everyone in a bar before fleeing.
Criminal law specialist Stevens, who qualified as a solicitor in 2016, is notorious locally for scoffing then scarpering.
When photos of her and electrician boyfriend Alani at the Castle Inn appeared on the Southend Crimewatch Facebook page, one user wrote: “Not again!
“She’s renowned in Essex for doing it. Jesus wept.”
Another local restaurant, the Pearl Dragon in Southend-on-Sea, had posted CCTV pictures of the couple in February when they were accused by its boss of leaving without paying the £127 bill.
Another local posted on Facebook: “You’d think an ex-solicitor would know better.
“Maybe someone should point them in the direction of a soup kitchen if they can’t afford food!”
A number of local taxi drivers have also accused Stevens and Alani of taking rides without being able to pay the fare.
Essex Police say they are continuing their enquiries into the incident at the Castle Inn on April 21.
Stevens’ latest Facebook profile picture, updated last year, shows her at a hair salon clutching a designer Louis Vuitton handbag and sporting an elaborately-tousled new cut.
Maybe someone should point them in the direction of a soup kitchen if they can’t afford food
Facebook user in response to Stevens
In other photos she is seen raising glasses of bubbly and cocktails.
Another shows her in a legal wig and gown which prompted a poster to write: “As if you are a barrister now, Kerry?”
On March 25, Stevens was booted out of the legal profession by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority for dining and dashing.
A tribunal heard how she was convicted at Suffolk Magistrates Court in 2022 of two counts of fraud by false representation.
In February 2021, Stevens and a friend had racked up a £60.91 bill at a Harvester restaurant in Rayleigh, Essex, then left without paying.
A month earlier she ordered a £43.47 kebab shop takeaway via Just Eat then shut the door on the delivery driver without paying.
The bill was then deducted from the driver’s wages.
Striking her off as a solicitor, the tribunal panel found that Stevens’ offences were “premeditated and deliberate”.
This week there was no answer at Stevens’ newbuild home in an upmarket neighbourhood of clapboard homes and BMWs in Great Wakering, Essex.
It is businesses large and small, often operating on the tightest of margins, who are bearing the brunt of the dine and dash epidemic.
Chief executive of the British Beer and Pub Association Emma McClarkin told The Sun that losses from the crime could “make the difference between making an overall profit or loss on that particular day”.
And she insisted that it was “a crime which the police must clamp down on vigorously”.
It’s a sentiment that Saiful Rahman, manager of Exeter’s Tamarind Bay restaurant, shares.
His voice giving away his anger and frustration, he told me how a party of 20 had gorged themselves on food and drink last week, then left without paying the £270 bill.
Saiful, 36, said a group of travellers made up of adults and children ate curry, chips and naan bread with chutneys washed down with dozens of drinks including Cobra beer, Coke and Fanta.
The hard-working boss revealed: “I couldn’t believe the sheer audacity. We then had to clean up the mess they had left behind.
“We’ve got gas, electricity, the waitress and the chef to pay. Bars and restaurants are struggling.”
When he alerted the police he was told that it was a “non-emergency” as the diners had left.
The curry house boss said: “I told the police, ‘I don’t care about the money as long as you knock on their door, and give them a formal warning.
And he added: “This type of crime can’t be normalised.”
Devon and Cornwall Police are investigating the incident.
Norman Brennan, director of the crime victims campaign group the Law And Order Foundation, says it is “nonsense” that dine and dash is fuelled by food poverty.
He said: “If you’re short of money, you buy food on a budget to provide for yourself and your family.
“You don’t go into pubs and swanky restaurants and run up huge bills, often drinking champagne, cocktails and bottles of beer. That’s really contemptuous.
“These businesses have got bills and staff to pay.”
The campaigner advises pubs and restaurants to report dine and dashers to the police, however small the amount.
And he says officers need to deal with the crime “robustly” and encourage business owners to demand a prosecution.
A cop for more than 30 years, retired Norman, 64, added: “The more people that are challenged, the less chance they is of them plaguing other businesses.
“No matter what the bill was, detain them, call the police and make a statement.
“It will help stop people thinking that they can go in, eat and drink to their heart’s content and not have to pay.”
Many dine and dashers seem captivated by the thrill of cheating restaurants and target multiple premises.
Craig Sharp launched a one-man culinary and drinking tour of East Anglia last year costing £8,000 and fled without paying a penny.
The conman, 52, certainly had a plausible manner.
No matter what the bill was, detain them, call the police and make a statement
Norman Brennan
Checking into 16th Century coaching inn The Angel in Halesworth, Suffolk, Sharp was “polite” and “complimentary” to staff, even buying them chocolates.
Yet it was all a calculated ruse to launch an extraordinary booze and food binge.
During his three-night stay, he sank 15 pints of Birra Moretti, eight pints of Guinness, seven rum and cokes and three pints of Aspall.
As well as three meals plus side dishes he also scoffed five bags of Mini Cheddars.
Portly Sharp then disappeared without paying his tab.
Angel Hotel manager William Tennant, 24, said: “He originally just booked in for one night. I suppose that was him scouting out how many extras he could put on to his room without paying for them.
“He sat with his back to the camera in the bar, which looking back must have been an intentional thing.”
Sharp also checked into The Angel Inn in Wangford, Suffolk, where he ate and drank on both evenings, even buying everyone a round of drinks in the bar.
He then fled without paying his £600 bill.
Sharp, from Harwich, Essex, pleaded guilty at Chelmsford Magistrates in February to five counts of fraud by false representation and was jailed for 48 weeks.
Trade body UKHospitality encourages landlords and restaurateurs to report anyone who makes a run for it without paying to the police.
A spokesman told The Sun that dine and dashing was “simply unacceptable” and “shows a complete lack of respect” to staff “who work incredibly hard to provide guests with good service, good food and good experiences”.
Back at the Castle Inn, Ken Todd is now reconsidering his earlier inclination not to push ahead with prosecuting shamed Stevens.
The landlord said: “I thought it wasn’t worth all the hassle of going to court for 60-odd pounds. But of course that’s what these people want.”
