Wayne Dennis George Drewett was born in November 1957. He was married and had
two adult children and a number of grandchildren. Mr Drewett spent some time
serving in the Australian Army and was a former Special Air Services Regiment
Administration Sergeant who served in Vietnam. His hobbies included woodwork and
music.
CASE DETAILS:
On
Monday 14 April 2003, Mr Drewett was with his wife at the Rendezvous Observation
City Hotel, Scarborough. He left the hotel alone in the late afternoon/early
evening, it is believed to attend a meeting at his house in Ballajura to discuss
a business venture that he had been planning. Police believe he left Scarborough
in his vehicle, a bronze 1992 Toyota Lexus sedan, registration 1AUS069.
Mr
Drewett’s last contact with his wife was by telephone on the evening of Tuesday
15 April 2003.
On
Sunday 4 May 2003, Mrs Drewett reported her husband as a missing person.
The following day, on Monday 5 May 2003, news reports of Mr Drewett missing
included details of his vehicle. Mr Drewett’s vehicle was found at the Perth
Domestic Airport later that day.
Since Tuesday 15 April 2003 Mr Drewett has not made any contact with his friends
or family. Mr Drewett’s necessary medication for a heart ailment was found at
his home by his wife.
The person or persons responsible for Mr Drewett’s disappearance have not yet
been identified.
If
you have any information in relation to the disappearance of Mr Drewett, his
movements or sightings of his vehicle between Monday 14 April and Monday 5 May
2003, please contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or make
a report online below. All reports to Crime Stoppers can be made
anonymously if you wish and rewards are available.
Missing businessman warned against diamond deal
Posted
Tue Jun 17, 2003
6:17pm AEST
The family of a Perth businessman who disappeared during a
million dollar diamond deal says he warned his brother about the dangers of such
a lucrative transaction.
Wayne Drewett, 57, from Ballajura, was last seen on April 15 at a
Scarborough hotel.
It is understood he left his wife at the hotel to buy more than $1 million
in diamonds from an unknown source.
Mr Drewett's beige car was later found abandoned at the Perth Airport.
Police have now identified about 40 people from around Australia who
invested their money in the diamond deal, but say they are reluctant to help
with police inquiries.
The missing man's brother, Garry Drewett, says his brother liked the high
life.
He had told his brother about the diamond deal before he disappeared.
"His last words to us on the day about this, he said, 'well if everything
goes right, then I'll see you', sounded too hair-brained for my way of
thinking."
Police step up search for missing businessman
Posted
Wed Sep 10, 2003
7:25pm AEST
Police have used sophisticated ground penetrating equipment
to today search the backyard of a Perth businessman who is missing, feared dead.
A Romanian national, Nick Stewart is wanted for questioning over the
disappearance of Wayne Drewett five months ago.
Police say Mr Stewart was the facilitator of a $1 million diamond deal
which Mr Drewett was involved in.
Mr Stewart left Australia about a week after Mr Drewett was last seen
alive, and officers found a cache of illegal firearms after searching Mr
Stewart's Perth home in June.
Detective Senior Sergeant Glen Potter says it is understood his family
reported him missing three weeks after he disappeared because of pressure from
investors in the diamond deal.
"We have spoken to all the investors that we're aware of," he said.
"It is clear that the prime motive for not reporting this straight up was
their hope that the deal would go through so that they wouldn't personally lose
their money and ... gain the profit that they hoped to get."
Coroner to lift lid on
missing man mystery
Sean
Cowan and Gabrielle Knowles, The West AustralianUpdated April 21, 2012, 2:10 am
One of WA's most intriguing murder mysteries is set to come under
the microscope of State Coroner Alastair Hope in a move aimed at
allowing the victim's wife to move on with her life.
Wayne Drewett was 57 when he disappeared in 2003 during a getaway
with his wife Joyce at Scarborough's Observation City Hotel. At the time
he was working on a $1 million black market diamond deal and Mrs Drewett
thought little of it when he left the hotel on business on April 14.
But he did not return and, in the days and weeks which followed,
she received several visits from strangers who tried to convince her
that her husband was safe.
It was almost three weeks before she reported him missing and, by
that time, his car had been dumped at Perth Airport, his bank account
cleared and his passport taken.
Police believe Romanian-born Nick Stuart, aka Niculae Stoian, was
the mastermind behind the diamond deal, which saw investors lured in
with the promise of big tax-free profits. But Mr Stuart had also
disappeared.
Mrs Drewett refused to comment when contacted by _The Weekend
West, _but still lives in the Ballajura house she bought with Mr Drewett
in 1990. Because the couple were "joint tenants", Mrs Drewett would
become sole owner of the house if Mr Drewett died.
She has been left in legal limbo since he disappeared and it is
understood she plans to sell the property if the Coroner finds her
husband is dead.
The inquest, scheduled for September, is expected to focus on the
diamond deal and the activities of Mr Stuart.
Police had tracked Mr Stuart to Bucharest and enlisted the help of
Romanian police to find him. But relations with the local authorities
broke down in about 2004.
Mr Stuart was convicted in Perth in 1993 of carrying an abduction
kit. Police found a dossier on the family of Alan Bond which suggested
he was planning to abduct one of them.
Wife says she knew nothing about cash, diamonds,
guns or hidden rooms
By Rania
Spooner
The wife of a wanted Romanian man has denied any knowledge of her
husband's business dealings, guns or secret rooms beneath their
home.
Romanian born Delia Stuart struggled to give evidence at a
coronial inquest exploring what happened nearly 10 years ago when
Perth businessman Wayne Drewett mysteriously disappeared and her
husband, Nick Stuart, left Australia.
She blamed poor memory and bad english for being unable to
answer many questions about the extent of her knowledge of her
husband's dealings with Mr Drewett or the suspicious items found
around the home they shared.
Mr Drewett was last seen by his wife, Joyce, leaving her room
at the Observation City Hotel to make arrangements for a diamond
deal linked to Nick Stuart on April 14, 2003.
Mr Stuart was also known as Niculae Stoian and was wanted by
Romanian Police in connection with a diamond deal in 1996 and the
disappearance of a man in possession of $300,000, the court heard
this week.
A group of Mr Drewett's investors convinced his wife not to
report him missing for almost three weeks after he vanished.
Mr Drewett's car was later found parked outside of the CCTV
camera area at the Perth Domestic terminal.
Police also discovered his computer hard drive was missing, as
was a pair of Mr Drewett's pyjamas.
He has never been seen again.
On the day of Mr Drewett's disappearance Mr Stuart had
withdrawn $10,000 in cash from a safety deposit box at Bankwest. He
also accessed a second box rented under his name.
Mr Drewett had a safety deposit box next to Mr Stuart's at
Bankwest.
Around the time he met Mr Drewett, Mr Stuart had been looking
for somebody to secure investors for an Eastern European diamond
deal, the court heard.
The pair were friends who had on at least one occasion
discussed investment opportunities, Mrs Stuart told the court.
Mr Drewett appeared to have found investors for a diamond deal
in February 2003, the court heard.
At the same time Terrance Gardiner who worked as a book keeper
for Mr Stuart - the pair met in prison - told the inquest he was
terrified of Mr Stuart and had handled large sums of money for the
Stuarts after Mr Stuart left the country.
Mr Gardiner told the court Mrs Stuart gave him an envelope
containing $30,000 which he posted in parcels to Romania, shortly
after Mr Stuart had left the country.
He said Mrs Stuart then asked him to pick up a parcel from a
friend's house and hold on to it.
After opening the parcel he said he was "scared" to discover
as much as $300,000 in Australian dollars, which he then kept in a
plastic bag in his garage, nestled behind some golf clubs.
"It scared the living hell out of me," he said, denying any
knowledge of where it had come from.
He claimed he dropped $100,000 off at a house owned by a
friend of Mrs Stuart's at her request, before eventually handing at
least $100,000 in to police.
Mrs Stuart denied receiving cash from Mr Gardiner. She said
although she did give him an envelope her husband had told her to
pass on she never opened it and did not know what was inside. She
also denies asking Mr Gardiner for any money.
Police searched Mr Stuart's home about two months after Mr
Drewett vanished, discovering an arsenal of guns, items used to test
diamonds and a book titled 'Be Your Own Undertaken: How to
Dispose of a Dead Body.'
Mr Gardiner yesterday told the court Mr Stuart had also shown
him a hole underneath his tool shed floor, which lead to two hidden
rooms - one containing a single bed.
Mr Stuart said her husband had never spoken to her about
diamonds or his other business dealings and claimed she did not know
why he had a diamond checking tool at their home.
"He speak with me, but not financial," she said.
"He never talk to me in what business he was involved."
She also denied any knowledge of the rooms underneath the shed
but said her husband would get angry if she went near his office or
the tool shed.
"He doesn’t like me to go in there - he was upset even when I
try to do some dusting," she said.
Mr Stuart left Australia for Romania on April 23, 2003 and is
still wanted for questioning by the Romanian authorities.
He had tried unsuccessfully to have two large boxes filled
with cash shipped to Romania prior to his departure, the court
heard.
The freight companies had returned the boxes to Mr Stuart
after discovering the cash and it is not known what happened to it
next.
Mrs Stuart, who met her husband in Bucharest in the late 80s,
said she could not remember much of what happened around his
departure.
She said she had spent three months in a "mental hospital"
after he left and her memory had been affected by antidepressants.
Although bank slips show she accessed the safety deposit box
she shared with her husband on several occasion - once with him -
she claims she only used it to store jewellery.
She denied having any contact with him aside from one phone
call in the years since he left.
But she never reported him missing when he failed to return
after six months, which he intended to spend caring for this sick
mother, she told the court.
The inquest is expected to finish today.
'Man was killed over $800k for
diamonds which never existed': police
Date
Rania Spooner
The police officer who investigated the disappearance of Perth
businessman Wayne Drewett nearly 10 years ago believes he was killed for
more than $800,000 in cash raised to buy Eastern European diamonds that,
unbeknownst to the beloved family man, probably never existed.
Speaking at the inquest into what happened to Mr Drewett, who disappeared in
April 2003, senior sergeant Glen Potter said police believed Romanian-born
Nick Stuart alias Niculae Stoian, was the likely "facilitator" of an
elaborate diamond scam the Perth grandfather had fallen into.
Police believe Mr Drewett had obtained more than $800,000 in cash for
the diamond deal, which they suspect had been moved from Mr Drewett's safety
deposit box at Bankwest on St Georges Terrace into an identical box next to
owned by Mr Stuart.
The only evidence Police have regarding the cash was the proximity of
the two boxes, suspicious dates that had been accessed and testimony from a
Bankwest employee who said she saw the front of Mr Drewett's box was stuffed
with hundred dollar notes on April 11, 2003.
There was also the testimony of Mr Drewett's potential investors who
said he was raising the money on behalf of a facilitator who he promised
could resell the diamonds onto buyers at a great profit.
Although the employee saw the cash in April, when police searched Mr
Drewett's box in May they found nothing.
The last time Mr Drewett's wife Joyce saw her husband was on April 14
at the Observation City Hotel, where they had rented a room.
He had told her he intended to buy a mustang and the pair had fought,
the court heard. He left saying he had more work to do on the diamond deal.
At 12.43pm the same day he withdrew $10,000 and opened a second safety
deposit box, which police believe was the intended location for the proceeds
of the diamond sale.
But he vanished before it could be used.
"Wayne Drewett actually believed there was a diamond deal afoot," Snr
Sgt Potter told the inquest.
"It’s the investigation's view that there probably wasn’t any
diamonds."
When Mrs Drewett returned to the home she shared with her husband she
discovered the backdoor was unlocked and uncharacteristically for her
husband appliances had been left around the house.
But she did not report him missing for another couple of weeks because
a group of his investors pressured her not to insisting everything was fine,
Snr Sgt Potter told the court.
Snt Sgt Potter said police would likely have been in a much better
position to find Mr Drewett if they had not been three weeks behind his
disappearance.
"The possibilities would have been endless," he said. "We would have
had Nick Stuart in the country, we would have known about the diamond deal."
Mr Drewett was last heard from on April 15. By April 23 Mr Stuart had
sold his car and equipment from a brick paving business he owned and flown
back to Romania, a country that does not share extradition agreements with
Australia.
Police had eventually discovered two burn phones registered by Mr
Drewett under fake names, which were only used to call each other in the
weeks before his disappearance, with one crucial exception that would lead
them to Mr Stuart.
A phone registered under Mr Stuart's name had called one of the
phones, police believe by accident. When police looked into Mr Stuart they
found he had spent three years in a WA prison for violence, dishonesty and
guns offences.
They later discovered Mr Stuart was also at the time wanted for
questioning by Romanian authorities over the disappearance of another man
linked to another diamond deal who had procured $300,000 from investors for
the deal in which he was "the facilitator" in 1996.
Between May and June several police searches of Mr Stuart's Marangaroo
home involving ground penetrating radar revealed a hidden underground bunker
made up of two rooms, one containing an arsenal of guns and ammunition, Snr
Sgt Potter told the court.
Terrance Gardiner, who used to work as a book keeper for Mr Stuart
after the pair met in prison also told the inquest of the secret bunker
describing one of the two rooms as containing only a single bed.
Several books were also found in Mr Stuart's home including detailed
guides for carrying out crimes, which notably included a book entitled 'Be
Your Own Undertaker: How to dispose of a dead body'.
Devices for testing diamonds were also located.
"It confirmed to us that there was a likelihood that Mr Drewett had
been killed," Snr Sgt Potter told the court.
"This led us to believe that Mr Stuart had the knowledge and the
capability to do it."
He said although the Australian Federal Police and Romanian
authorities had worked together to locate Mr Stuart in Bucharest – they had
not been successful in returning him to Australia.
Counsel assisting the coroner Kate Ellson in her closing submission
yesterday advised the coroner that beyond a doubt Mr Drewett was dead.
"There is a very real possibility that Mr Drewett was killed for the
money he raised for a diamond deal," she said.
Since April 15 Mr Drewett has never accessed any of his known bank
accounts, email accounts, phones, or attempted to reclaim his car which was
believed to have been dumped outside Perth airport, she said.
There were also no Medicare records of him purchasing medication he
needed for a serious heart condition.
Speaking outside court Mr Drewett's daughter Debra said the family
were relieved the inquest had moved ahead more than 9 years after he went
missing, but were still looking for answers.
"I don't think that will every go away until we have remains that we
can put to rest," she said.
"If anybody still has any information that might reveal where my
husband's remains are that might give my family closure."
Ms Drewett described her father was a "wonderful family man," who was
"loved dearly".
"I feel like I'm back to day one again – it's been very hard for
everyone," she said
The coroner is expected to hand down his findings into Mr Drewett's
possible death in December.
Ms Drewett said the family wanted him finally declared dead.
Conman involved in missing WA
diamond dealer's death
Tim Clarke, AAP
AAP
December 17, 20121:16PM
A CORONER has found a Romanian man was involved in the death of
a Perth businessman who went missing more than nine years ago, along
with $1 million in cash he had raised to import a cache of diamonds that
didn't exist.
WA coroner Peter Collins today found that "all roads'' led to the
conclusion that Romanian-born Niculae Stoian, known as Nick Stuart,
contributed to the death of grandfather Wayne Drewett, whose body has never
been found.
Mr Stuart left Australia days after Mr Drewett went missing in April 2003,
with evidence given to the inquest hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash
left with him.
He has never returned.
WA Police are set to contact their Romanian counterparts, and the coroner's
report will be sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions for
consideration.
Mr Drewett's disappearance came after he became involved in a deal to import
$1 million worth of diamonds into Australia, although police believe the
gems never existed.
He was last seen by his wife Joyce on April 14, 2003.
He has not been heard from since a brief phone conversation the following
day.
His pyjamas, lap top and briefcase were later found to be missing from his
house, along with keys to his safety deposit box.
The inquest was told the Australian diamond deal bore all the hallmarks of
previous scam in Romania in 1996 in which the financier disappeared and was
presumed murdered.
The man at the centre of that deal was Mr Stuart, the coroner said.
He frequently talked to Mr Drewett on disguised mobile phones in the days
before his disappearance.
The coroner said on April 11, Mr Drewett's safety deposit box had been
``overflowing with cash'' intended for the diamond deal.
Within a week, the cash was gone, as was any sign of Mr Drewett.
Mr Stuart then told friends he needed to fly to Romania urgently because his
mother was unwell, selling his car, and trying to send wads of cash to
Romania in a cardboard box.
Mr Stuart transferred $12,700 on his departure, declared a further $60,000
on exit from the country, and had a friend collect a bag containing between
$100,000 and $200,000, which he later gave to police.
Mr Collins said he had no doubt Mr Drewett was dead, and Mr Stuart was
involved, but his cause of death must remain ``unascertainable''.
"There is a substantial body of circumstantial evidence which points
compellingly to the fact Mr Drewett has been the victim of foul play,'' the
coroner said.
"There is an equally substantial body of circumstantial evidence pointing to
the fact Nick Stuart had contributed to Mr Drewett's disappearance and
death.''
Mr Drewett's daughter Debra hopes Mr Stuart will be found.
"Hopefully some movement in Romania might help,'' she said. ''Other people
lost their money, but my father lost his life.''
Coroner finds diamond dealer Drewett is dead
Updated
Mon Dec 17, 2012
3:18pm AEDT - ABC
A WA Coroner says he is satisfied that a man who disappeared
after becoming involved in a black market diamond deal in Perth is dead.
The Coroner, Peter Collins, investigated the suspected death of Wayne
Drewett, 57, who vanished after helping raise $1 million for the deal in April
2003.
Mr Collins said he was satisfied Mr Drewett died shortly after his
disappearance, and that a man who facilitated the deal, Nick Stuart, was
involved.
Mr Stuart left Australia for Romania in the weeks after Mr Drewett's
disappearance, and the Coroner found that he had access to large amounts of
money.
Senior Sergeant Glen Potter investigated Mr Drewett's disappearance.
He says the case should serve as a warning to anyone considering getting
involved in black market deals.
"There's a quick fix, a quick buck in it, and the reality is they don't
exist and a lot of pain is caused," he said.
"And, in this case we've seen it by people trying to make money very
quickly without asking the right questions."
Mr Drewett's widow, Joyce, has welcomed the findings.
"I'm glad that it's all over now," she said.
"It's terrible to think that Wayne lost his life because of an investment,
obviously he was used.
"Other than that I'm just glad I finally might have some closure."
His daughter, Debra Drewett, says she hopes that one day her family will
find out exactly what happened.
"Everyone needs to come forward with anything that they possibly have, no
matter how little it is, it might be the missing link one day," she said.
The Coroner has referred the matter to Western Australia's Director of
Public Prosecutions.