Theresa Dalton: Gold Coast woman jailed for another six months for stealing ex-husband’s prized cars before foiled murder plot

A Gold Coast woman who was jailed for orchestrating a hit on her ex-husband has been given more jail time after stealing three vehicles and moving them around Queensland until 2014. LATEST >>>

• Revealed: How trams make your property more valuable
• Woman busted fleeing Brisbane hotel quarantine via fire escape

MATTHEW Neels would prove to be a thief, not a killer, when he ran off with $20,000 instead of following through with an arranged hit on Gold Coast mechanic Malcolm Stewart.

He had met old acquaintance Anthony Werner in Burleigh Heads in 2010 to collect the upfront cash and a photograph of Mr Stewart, and was told another $20,000 would follow once the job was done.

The hit never went ahead, and, instead, Neels would leave Queensland, taking off with the part-payment.

Malcolm Stewart still fears for his life after his ex-wife orchestrated a hit. (AAP Image/Dan Peled)

Soon after, in February 2011, gunshots were fired into his NSW property. It set in motion an investigation that would ­unravel a murder conspiracy, but also recover two vintage cars stolen in the wake of a hostile marriage breakdown.

Matthew Neels leaves the Supreme Court in Brisbane in 2019 (AAP Image/Dan Peled).

Investigators discovered a link between Neels, Anthony Werner and Theresa Dalton – Mr Stewart’s ex-wife – who were entangled in a foiled murder plot spanning two states. NSW police came into possession of a folder with a photo of Mr Stewart and linked it back to Werner using a fingerprint, a source close to the case told the Bulletin.

The Brisbane Supreme Court heard in March Dalton had “pulled the strings” by giving her then-boyfriend, Werner, a photograph of Mr Stewart, his address and a $20,000 down payment for his “old acquaintance” Neels.

The court was told Dalton had become “fixated” on having Mr Stewart killed after their 25-year marriage broke down in 2007 prompting a fight over assets.

Dalton, charged in Queens­land with attempting to procure another to murder, was sentenced to six years’ jail for the foiled $40,000 murder hit. Werner was convicted in NSW of soliciting Mr Stewart’s murder and sentenced to seven years and two months’ jail.

Theresa Dalton in 2019. (AAP Image/Dan Peled).

Neels was not charged with any offence.

Before the murder plot, Dalton took a fully restored 1920 Model T Ford, a 1964 EH Holden and a Valiant Safari between October 2007 and 2009 from the Carrara home she once shared with Mr Stewart.

Sources say she reported the cars stolen and provided an affidavit to another court in which she claimed she didn’t know what had happened to the cars. She was never charged with perjury.

Last week, Dalton pleaded guilty in the Southport ­District Court via video link from Numinbah Valley low security prison, to stealing them and moving them around various locations within Queensland until they were tracked down by NSW detectives in 2014.

Malcolm Stewart in 2009 pleading for information on his stolen T-Model Ford, Variety Bash car and restored valiant.

Detectives contacted Dalton’s associates asking about stolen cars before getting lucky with one man, who owned property, near Chinchilla.

He said that Dalton had asked him to store vehicles at his property, but he didn’t know anything about them being stolen.

NSW detectives investigating the murder plot phoned local police and asked to speak with the man and check the vehicles.

When two of the vehicles were found, local police sent photos back to NSW detectives more than 1000km away and had them towed.

The third vehicle, a Valiant Safari, remains missing.

A Valiant Safari.

A source said investigating the cars contributed to proving Dalton’s deception and expose her lies.

“If she went to the extent of stealing a number of cars and hiding them, why would she have a means to lie to the police about that and report them stolen,” the source said.

Dalton was sentenced to six months’ jail for the car thefts to be served in addition to her current term of imprisonment. She will be eligible for parole on October 3, 2022

Judge David Kent labelled the offending as “calculated” and “persistent”, although noted that neither car was damaged.

The Variety Bash car was found in 2014.

The court was told an $8000 insurance claim was paid out for the missing Valiant and that Mr Stewart “sobbed” when the remaining two were recovered.

Mr Stewart told the Bulletin he was “happy to get them back” after almost a decade. The cars were seized by police as the charges slowly made their way through the courts.

But he has since sold the ­vehicles because of “bad memories” and to keep his “head above water” after high legal costs throughout the ordeal.

The 1920 Model T Ford was also found in 2014. When the cars were returned Mr Stewart “sobbed”.

Mr Stewart, 67, is now battling serious health issues, which his doctors have linked to stress from the foiled murder plot on him, as revealed in the Bulletin on Monday. The ordeal had had a “massive impact” on his health and he was now suffering from kidney failure, he had said.

‘Ex put a hit on me, now the stress may kill me’

A GOLD Coast mechanic whose ex-wife paid to have him killed is facing a second threat to his life.

He is being treated for a serious health complaint.

Malcolm Stewart has opened up about his personal health battle which doctors have linked to stress from the foiled murder plot.

“My health has deteriorated and my kidney doctor has said a lot of it has been caused by the huge stress that I’ve been through,” Mr Stewart told the Bulletin.

The 67-year-old, who celebrated his birthday on Thursday, is on kidney dialysis three days a week until his medical team can find a suitable donor. He revealed he was diagnosed with kidney failure about two years ago.

Malcolm Stewart leaves the Supreme Court in Brisbane, Friday, March 8, 2019. (AAP Image/Glenn Hunt)

Mr Stewart, who armed himself with a bulletproof vest and slept with an English Bull Terrier dog at the height of the danger, says he can’t “100 per cent” relax a decade on.

His ex-wife Theresa Dalton, 69, was sentenced to six years’ jail in March after a Supreme Court jury found her guilty of orchestrating a $40,000 hit on Mr Stewart in 2010.

The court was told that Dalton was “fixated” on having Mr Stewart killed after their relationship broke down in 2007 and a fight ensued over assets.

Dalton organised her then boyfriend Anthony Werner to give another man a $20,000 down payment for the hit. The man instead ran off with the money.

Werner was later convicted in NSW over the murder plot and was sentenced to seven years and two months’ jail.

Theresa Dalton leaving the Supreme Court in Brisbane in 2019. Picture: AAP Image/Dan Peled

Dalton was first convicted of the allegations in 2019 but the conviction was overturned on appeal.

Stewart said the ordeal had a “massive impact” on his health and revealed he now suffered from kidney failure.

“I was wearing a bulletproof vest for a year and a half (starting in 2010). I had to wear it night and day, everywhere I went. The police came to see me and told me that there’s someone out there that’s going to kill you.

“They wanted me to go into hiding in Queensland, to a little country town and change my name. I said ‘I can’t do that. I’ve lost enough, (I’m) not throwing my business away as well. That would be the end of everything’.

“I had to then make a choice of wearing a bulletproof vest, and just keep my eyes out.”

Even after the arrests he still fears for his life.

Gold Coast mechanic Malcolm Stewart and his ex-wife Theresa Stewart on their wedding day.

“I’m still on guard now. I can’t relax. Once you’ve been through something like that, if a car drives in near my workshop, if someone looks suspicious where they are looking into the building, I always write down their number and report that to (police),” Stewart said.

He said at the height of the danger he had the dog’s lead around his arm at night so he could be alerted if something was around: “I was paranoid that someone was going to break into the house and kill me or … fire bullets through the front windows.”

Stewart said going through the trial a second time was “terrible” but it made him stronger for what he’s been through.

“It affected my life, it affected my business. It’s all very stressful trying to conduct a normal life with that sort of thing going on. It’s not easy. I had bad moments of stress, the pressure took its toll.”

Follow @MileyJacob