A MAN has been sentenced after admitting to a number of 'dine and dash' incidents at restaurants.

Alan Rogers, 46, of Market Place in Hadleigh was sentenced to eight months in prison after he appeared before Ipswich Crown Court today( Thursday, August 27).

At an earlier hearing on July 23, Rogers admitted to three counts of fraud by false representation at court - One in Ipswich on September 10 2020, one on September 5 2020 in Aldeburgh and one in Norwich between July 22 2020 and November 18 2020.

Rogers was first arrested, along with a 43-year-old woman from Sudbury, in Ipswich last year on November 18 on suspicion of making off without payment.

As well as the three offences mentioned above, Rogers also made admissions to another 15 offences of fraud by false representation that were also taken into consideration when he chose to work with the Operation Converter team - an initiative aimed at encouraging offenders to admit their crimes.

These other 15 offences took place between January 17 2020 and October 28 2020.

Twelve of the offences took place in Suffolk with two in Essex and one in Norfolk and a total cost of the fraud calculated to be more than £1,200.

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One such eatery was located in Halstead with the offence taking place on July 7 while another took place Great Tey on August 23

Duncan Etchells of the Op Converter team said: “The selfish actions of Rogers and his so called ‘dine and dash’ offending would have caused considerable distress and frustration to the proprietors of all the pubs, restaurants and other eateries he visited.

“These were businesses who, at the time, were no doubt struggling to make ends meet in the wake of the covid pandemic with the lockdown affecting the food and drink trade so to see Rogers receive this sentence is very satisfying.”

No further action was taken against the 43-year-old woman.

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