This is the moment a serial dine-and-dasher is confronted by pub customers and staff after she and her partner tried to dodge paying the £62 bill for their Sunday roast.
Disgraced solicitor Kerry Ann Stevens was struck off after she was convicted for a string of food thefts at multiple restaurants over a two-year period from 2021 to 2023.
In footage exclusively obtained by MailOnline, Stevens and her partner Daniel Alani are seen allegedly trying to leave the Castle Inn in Little Wakering, Essex without paying for the two-course Sunday lunch that they ate.
In dramatic scenes recorded on a mobile phone, staff and customers could be seen preventing them from leaving until police arrived after the pair were recognised by locals.
But no action was taken after the owner decided it wasn’t worth pursuing them through court for the money.
A string of local restaurant owners and taxi drivers have since come forward to claim the couple have also dodged payments but get away with it because the sums are too small to warrant legal action.
In the latest incident, the pair tucked into a prawn cocktail, breaded mushrooms and two roast chicken mains with extra lamb on the side. They washed it down with two cokes, an orange juice and a glass of Pinot Grigio wine before getting up to leave without paying.
Landlord Ken Todd, 76, claimed: ‘A waitress pointed out to me that they were people that had done a runner from other places when they sat down.
‘We decided to keep an eye on the pair and, sure enough, they tried to leave multiple times by various routes.
‘The woman said her father would pay – but that he was in hospital with his grandson. When we asked why they didn’t have any money, they didn’t give any answer at all – they just sat there.’
He added: ‘Other customers helped my staff to stop them leaving. The man was being very loud and it became a heated situation. We kept them talking for a good hour and some people accused them of being serial offenders.
‘The customers blocked the entrance and were checking who was coming in and going out.
‘The man tried to leave through the back door of the pub, which I had already locked, and apparently the woman tried to escape by the bathroom window. It was a very stressful situation and it was difficult trying to deal with both at the same time. We’re lucky it was £60 and not £300.’
Footage shows bearded Alani in a black polo top and blue trousers and Stevens in a white jumper arguing with staff at the 17th century pub. At one point she can be seen trying to push past a member of staff while clutching her bag and shoves him as he tried to direct her back to the table.
Police arrived and took the couple’s details but eventually let them go when Mr Todd agreed it wouldn’t be worth pursuing them in court for the sum involved.
Locals put photos of the couple on the Southend Crimewatch Facebook page, prompting a taxi driver to upload footage of Alani allegedly walking away after fare dodging. At least ten other cabbies have come forward complaining of similar incidents where they claim to have no money or promise to return with the cash.
Patrick Pjetri, of the 333444 firm in Southend, said he fell victim to them on February 4 – and was told a couple believed to be the same pair had evaded paying a colleague earlier that day.
‘The man asked to get out of the car earlier than the woman and when she asked to get out further down the road, she couldn’t offer any payment,’ he said.
‘She offered me a phone charger, saying it was worth £20 when the fare was £19.20. When I refused, she started screaming and saying ‘It’s enforcement of imprisonment’ because I said they’d have to leave something behind or wait until they could come up with the cash.’
The 44-year-old, who said he took a photo of the woman, added: ‘I had to let her go in the end because of her screaming and shouting.’
Ruzhdi Bushi, 46, confronted the man at the end of last year after a similar experience. He said he had recognised him from CCTV images.
‘I reported them to the police and they said ‘Are you willing to go to court?’ I thought no, not for the sake of £20. They said they’d dismiss the case and now I realise the pair have been doing it to everyone. We know of at least ten drivers.’
Zeesham Hayder, who works for the same firm, said: ‘I’ve called the police and they say it’s a civil matter – but those two are taking advantage of that.
‘They know people won’t want to waste their time and money going to court for £10.’
Chinese restaurant owner Steve Yeung, 52, said he had not heard anything back from police since the couple fled from his business, The Pearl Dragon, without paying their £127 bill in February.
He added: ‘We all knew they’d do it again. I don’t understand how the police have all the details and yet still have not done anything.’
Stevens was struck off on March 25, according to the Solicitors Regulation Authority website. It records that she was convicted in her absence of two counts of fraud by false representation in Suffolk Magistrates Court in March 2022.
In January 2021, she tried to get takeaway food without paying the £43.47 bill. The following month she said she would ‘return to a Harvester restaurant to pay her bill of £60.91 but she did not return’.
Photos on her Facebook page show her sitting in a designer armchair with a glass of bubbly in her hand.
Another shows her in a wig and gown, prompting a friend to ask: ‘As if you are a barrister now Kerry? Are you really?’
Stevens and Alani, who are both believed to be unemployed at present, live together in Great Wakering, just outside Southend, according to neighbours.
Stevens moved into the newbuild house when it was constructed around nine years ago. When the Mail visited it this week, there was an exposed electricity box on the exterior and overgrown grass and shrubs in the garden.
Flowers in hanging baskets on either side of the front door were dead and a wooden panelling had been wedged behind a smashed window.
No one answered the door and locals said they hadn’t been seen for a couple of days.
One resident, who didn’t want to be named, said: ‘She did used to be a solicitor. She was struck off for dining and dashing.’
Another local said the window was smashed in November when a car turned up in the dark and someone knocked on the door.
‘They don’t answer [the door], even to deliveries,’ the woman said. ‘And the next thing we heard was that smash of the window.’
A woman called Nikki said Stevens used to have a ‘nice, normal boyfriend’ for the first couple of years she lived there but they split up. She claimed her neighbour later had a child with another partner who now lives with the man’s parents. She subsequently started going out with Alani.
Neither Stevens nor Alani, who are both understood to be in their 30s, responded to requests to comment.
Essex Police said they were called just after 5pm on Sunday to ‘reports of two individuals trying to leave a pub in Little Wakering without making payment’.
A spokesman added: ‘Officers attended and liaised with all staff, members of the public and all parties involved.Details were taken from two people at the scene and enquiries are ongoing.’
Robert Johnson is a UK-based business writer specializing in finance and entrepreneurship. With an eye for market trends and a keen interest in the corporate world, he offers readers valuable insights into business developments.
