A MAN branded a "public nuisance" by a judge has been ordered to pay hard cash up front for any food, drink or accommodation - or face jail.

Serial fraudster Mark Anthony Chapman, 43, will have to pay in advance for every pint, glass of wine, aperitif, cocktail, hot drink, meal or stay he gets at any hospitality business for the next five years.

If he tries to pay by card, he will have to wait until the banks confirm the payment has gone through before eating, drinking, or unpacking his bags.

It is the latest effort by judges to protect hospitality businesses by stopping Chapman’s years-long career of walking out without paying after eating, drinking or staying in their premises in York, North Yorkshire and elsewhere.

Several jail terms have failed to deter him.

“You are a public nuisance,” the Recorder of York, Judge Sean Morris, told Chapman at York Crown Court.

In June 2020, he deferred sentence on a series of frauds on condition that Chapman stay out of all licensed premises, stop offending and other conditions.

But he didn’t know that Chapman had checked out without paying a £1,155 bill at a country pub near Thirsk for a nine-day Christmas stay in 2019.

On Chapman’s return to court, the judge said he would probably have jailed him in June 2020 had he known.

“You are lucky,” he told Chapman after hearing details about the stay at a Carlton Miniott pub and how the fraudster had booked a follow-on £665 stay over New Year.

He gave Chapman an eight-month prison sentence suspended for two years on condition he does a four-month nightly curfew from 7pm to 6am.

“By and large you have kept your side of the bargain.

“This is possibly one of the longest periods of being out of trouble recently.

“I don’t want to see your face in my court again.”

Chapman, now living at the Changing Lives hostel in Union Terrace, York, pleaded guilty to theft, four charges of fraud and three of making off without payment in York, North and East Yorkshire.

He also admitted criminal damage to a woman’s Scarborough home by smearing its outside with excrement and hitting its doors and windows with objects. The damage cost more than £2,235 to repair.

The vandalism was committed in the early hours of September 13, 2019.

The judge made a five-year restraining order forbidding Chapman from eating any meal or drinking any drink at any business premises, such as pubs, cafes, clubs or restaurants, or staying in any hotel, pub or bed and breakfast premises without having paid fully in advance for all the services he would use. If he breaks the order he could be jailed for five years.

For Chapman, Andrea Parnham said he lives on benefit and was looking for work, but a full-time job was currently a “step too far”.

“He wants to concentrate on getting better in terms of alcohol,” she said.

He had been attending rehabilitation sessions via Zoom and was hoping to start a three-month intensive rehabilitation programme at the hostel.