Southend dine-and-dash suspects wanted by Police

A man and woman who allegedly made off without paying from restaurants and taxis in the Southend area, are now being hunted by police after they failed to answer a police bail.

Daniel Alani and Kerry Ann Stevens, both aged 38, were arrested in May at an address in Great Wakering. Both were taken into custody and questioned on suspicion of three counts of making off without payment.

They were then released on conditional bail until late July, with one of the conditions barring them from attending any licenced premises in which food is served, where the food cannot be purchased before consumption.

They have links to the Southend and Great Wakering areas, where many of the alleged offences have taken place. Two of the alleged ‘dine-and-dash’ incidents are reported to have taken place at the Castle Inn, Wakering and the Pearl Dragon restaurant, Southend.

Police officers are looking to speak to them in connection with investigations into incidents where individuals were reported to have failed to pay for taxi fares and restaurant bills, as well as a failure to answer police bail.

Alani is around 5ft 8ins in height and of stocky build, while Stevens is around 5ft in height and of small build.

If you have any information on the whereabouts of the two people, contact Essex Police on 101 or you can use the live chat service on their website.

The investigations are part of ‘Operation Raker’ which is a dedicated policing response aiming to target theft, assaults and public order offences in the Southend area. In less than a year, the Operation Raker team has secured almost 500 charges and convictions in 55 cases.