Police probe 'dine and dashers' who 'fled without paying £425 bill': Italian restaurant posts images of four women who visited with eight children 'and gorged on oysters, roast beef and pasta'

Women fled £425.38 bill at La Bella Vista, East Sussex with their eight children

An Italian restaurant has pictured and shamed four women who they say dined-and-dashed with their eight children after refusing to pay a £400 bill.

La Bella Vista, in St Leonards-on-Sea, East Sussex warned other small business owners about the ‘despicable group’ after they ordered hundreds of pounds worth of food and drink and left without paying.

Sussex Police have now said they are investigating the incident which happened at around 5pm on Sunday.

The £425.38 bill shows the group had a nourishing meal comprising of roast beef, which the restaurant serves on Sundays, oysters, bolognese, and a variety of starters.

Staff managed to keep one of the women inside the restaurant until police officers arrived, but after she was walked to a cash machine she only handed over £60 which she claimed was ‘all she had’.

An Italian restaurant has pictured and shamed four women who they say dined-and-dashed with their eight children after refusing to pay a £400 bill

La Bella Vista, in St Leonards-on-Sea, East Sussex warned other small business owners about the ‘despicable group’ after they ordered hundreds of pounds worth of food and drink and left without paying

The restaurant said this was the third time they had been hit by dine-and-dashers in the last few months.

The group were hanging around the restaurant’s front door after the police turned up, according to footage seen by The Mirror.

In their warning on Facebook, La Bella Vista said: ‘Warning to all small business owners! This despicable group brazenly walked into La Bella Vista this afternoon with their 8 children, ordered over £400 worth of food and drink and then refused to pay!

‘The police managed to recover £60 for us, a mere drop in the ocean! This is the 3rd time we have been hit by groups like these in the last couple of months, so please be aware!’

Restaurant management told The Mirror that the four women pretended to find something in their food and demanded it be cut from the bill.

Owner Aldo Esposito said they made the claim halfway through eating their dinner ‘but carried on eating’.

He said he had ‘never seen anything like it’, and branded them ‘disgraceful’.

Sussex Police have now said they are investigating the incident which happened at around 5pm on Sunday

La Bella Vista warned local businesses on Facebook about the ‘despicable’ group of women

Mr Esposito said the children were ‘causing havoc’ by screaming and shouting and that their mothers ‘did nothing’.

A Sussex Police spokesperson said: ‘We can confirm we are investigating a report of a group of people making off without payment from a restaurant in St Leonards.

‘The group are alleged to have left La Bella Vista in Grand Parade around 5pm on Sunday 7 January without paying for their meal.

‘A member of staff also reported being assaulted.

‘Officers have attended the premises and engaged with staff and enquiries are ongoing.

‘Anyone with any information about the incident is asked to report it online or call 101, quoting serial 748 of 07/01.’