Bashing prompts murderer Matej Vanko’s move to Alice Springs jail

CONVICTED murderer Matej Vanko has been moved to Alice Springs jail after the brutal bashing of another inmate in Darwin.

Matej 'Matt' Vanko pictured with a rifle.

CONVICTED murderer Matej Vanko – described as cold, calculated and callous when he was sentenced to life last year – has been moved to Alice Springs jail after the brutal bashing of another inmate at Darwin Correctional Centre.

Vanko used a Japanese ceremonial knife in the 2012 execution-style slaying of Donald Stevens at Howard Springs.

After killing Mr Stevens, Vanko shot and stabbed his blue heeler and maltese terrier, before waiting for Mr Stevens’ sister Nolene to return home.

Vanko held Ms Stevens hostage for several hours after tying her legs and handcuffing her wrists.

During the case Crown prosector David Morters compared Vanko to other high-profile Territory prisoners, including Bradley Murdoch.

The court heard Vanko had a “poisonous” professional ­relationship with Ms Stevens, who was his supervisor with Serco at the Darwin immigration detention centre.

Correctional Services Commissioner Ken Middlebrook said Vanko had been moved from Darwin to Alice Springs for the “good order and security” of the prison.

The NT News has been told Vanko “smashed both eye sockets” of another inmate at Darwin prison because he believed he was a police informant.

“Word is the other bloke was a police informant and had informed against prisoners who were in for drugs. We thought it might end up in the Coroner’s Court,” a source at the new Holtze correctional ­facility said.

Before allegedly hospitalising the other inmate, Vanko had stayed out of serious trouble and was described as “polite and courteous” to guards. Nonetheless, Corrections authorities suspected that he was a key figure in several prison scams.

“He was always in the background,” another person working at Darwin prison said.

“He’s like a neon light flashing at you. When things were being investigated his name was always coming up.

“He’s a nasty piece of gear.”

As a maximum-security prisoner, the martial-arts trained Vanko was housed in sector five at Holtze “which holds all the baddies”.

Vanko had a reputation for making improvised weapons from pilfered items.

While it is unclear whether a weapon was used in the ­Holtze attack, a subsequent search of Vanko’s cell reportedly uncovered several stolen items including a control lever taken from a chemical cleaning bottle.

Inmates can be transferred between prisons for several ­reasons, including making threats of violence against other prisoners. Other reasons for transfers include threats against them or perceived threats to the good order and security of the prison.

Notorious lifer Andy Albury was transferred because he had a “real vendetta against some officers”, one source said.

Prisoners can also be transferred to prevent them from becoming “institutionalised” to the point they learn so much about a prison they pose a potential security risk.