A brass-necked dine-and-dash couple who cost Tayside restaurants almost £700 have each been jailed for eight months.
Sean Dempsey, 41, and 34-year-old Kerry Anne Smith pled guilty to defrauding establishments throughout July.
Previously, the pair appeared from custody to plead guilty to fraud and offences involving a stolen car. Both were on bail at the time.
The couple became subject to intense social media scrutiny and tried to make off in a stolen car when Dempsey thought they were being followed.
They each returned individually to Forfar Sheriff Court via video links from prison last week.
Guzzle-and-go
Smith, of Langley Avenue in Montrose, admitted committing four crimes in just 17 days.
On July 8, Smith ate at Coast in Arbroath, where she pretended to employees she would pay the bill for food and drink she ordered.
In fact, she had no intention of paying and left without doing so, leaving Coast out of pocket to the tune of £58.75.
Three days later, she struck again at Ganges restaurant in Carnoustie, fleeing before footing a £175 bill.
On July 18, she ran away after racking up a £68.95 bill at CriDo’s restaurant in Perth.
Her final guzzle-and-go came back in Arbroath on July 25 at The Marina.
There, she ordered food and drink worth £77.60 before hotfooting it.
Stolen car
Dempsey, of North Grimsby in Arbroath, pled guilty to identical conduct in his home town and Dundee.
On July 13, he racked up a £175.68 bill at The White Goose in Dundee before fleeing.
On July 23, he left a £126.80 bill unpaid at Sapni Tandoori in Arbroath.
The pair also both pled guilty to a charge of stealing a vehicle from outside Scotmid on Newmanswalls Avenue in Montrose on July 29.
Dempsey alone admitted then driving the vehicle without a licence or insurance and colliding with two parked cars in Dalhousie Place, Arbroath, and failing to leave his name and address.
When he was stopped and breathalysed by police, he returned a breath reading of almost double the drink-drive limit (37mics/22).
Fiscal depute Duncan MacKenzie told the court the pair had stolen the car after its owner’s key had likely fallen from her cardigan pocket.
Dempsey drove it and crashed it into a parked car, which in turn collided with another.
The stolen car was deemed undrivable and Smith was left with bruising from the seatbelt.
Both accepting of custody
On behalf of Smith, who appeared by a link from HMP Polmont, solicitor Billy Rennie said: “The report suggests quite a bit of trauma going on in her life in the early part of this year.
“She does accept full responsibility herself.”
Mr Rennie also appeared for Dempsey, who joined the court via a video link from HMP Perth.
He added: “He accepts that matters, to some extent, were spiralling out of control, particularly because he had financial difficulties.
“He was the one, he says, who was responsible for the planning.”
Mr Rennie said Dempsey believed he was being followed when he stole the car.
“There was quite a significant amount of social media coverage of the restaurant incidents.”
Sheriff Neil Kinnear jailed Dempsey and Smith for eight months each.
He also banned Dempsey from driving for four years.
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