Wednesday 23 February 2011

Have you been conned by Tony Shiel?

If you have had any dealings with Tony Shiel please contact stopshiel@gmail.com

Tony (Anthony) Shiel

Tony (Anthony) Shiel

Tony Shiel was born on February 14th, 1966. 

According to him he was born in Newcastle, England and then emigrated with his family to New Zealand when he was four years old. Tony was raised in New Zealand, mainly residing in the town of New Plymouth, and emigrated to Australia with his then girlfriend when he was in his 20s. They returned to NZ to marry and then came back to live in Australia. 

Tony and his wife lived in Queensland for a while before moving and settling in Perth. When I was involved with Tony he had a cabinet-making business based in Welshpool called Lines By Design. He said he had owned one cabinet making business before that and that he and his wife had previously owned and run two cafes in the city. 

Following the collapse of his Lines By Design business, Tony found work with a commercial and office refurbishment company based in Jandakot called Essex Industries. This is his current place of employment.

I met Tony through an internet dating site in October of 2008. The catch cry on his profile was "Genuine nice guy" and everything he wrote on it seemed ideal. He advertised himself as being a separated, non-smoker who was looking for a committed, exclusive relationship with someone displaying honesty, integrity and values. 

We began communicating via instant chat and got along very well establishing that we had many things in common. We met up for the first time for coffee soon afterwards. The odd thing about our first meeting was that it occurred on the day before his mother's funeral. According to Tony his mother had died of cancer on October 18th.  We met on October 23rd and her funeral supposedly took place on October 24th. 

During our initial communications, our first meeting and throughout the seven month relationship that ensued Tony claimed the following:

*He had been separated for approximately three years - He was still married and living with his wife and two children.

*When he separated from his wife he moved out of the family home - He has never moved out of the family home and has never separated from his wife.

*He lived in a house jointly owned by himself and his father - His father owned the house and Tony was renting it from him. Tony owns no real estate and has no assets.    

*He lived with his sister and her terminally-ill husband and their daughter. The brother-in-law had been diagnosed with brain cancer and was dying so required total privacy - They have never lived with Tony. Tony lived with his wife and children. He concocted that story to keep me away from his house and away from his wife and children.

*His wife and children had relocated to a country town where they lived with a  man called Trevor. Tony visited the town every second weekend to visit his kids - This never happened. Trevor did not exist. Tony made up this scenario so he could divide his weekends between his family and me and anyone else he was seeing.

*He paid weekly maintenance to his wife to help support his kids - He did no such thing because his wife and kids lived with him.           
               
*His children competed at a BMX club in the country town they were living in - His children competed at a BMX club in the city. There is no BMX club or facility in the town Tony said they were living in.


*He is a non-smoker - Tony smoked right up until meeting and establishing a relationship with me. He smoked behind my back because I told him I would not date a smoker. He managed to quit early on in our relationship.


*He has never been bankrupt - Tony has bankrupted at least two businesses that I know of.

*He has never been taken to court - Tony has a lengthy history of civil court actions against him relating to outstanding debts and keeping clients' deposit money without doing any work or completing projects.

*He lived in the same house throughout our entire relationship - He moved house without telling me. I only discovered this by carrying out my own investigations and by then he had been living at a different location for months. Tony claimed that he had told me of the move and given me his new address when he hadn't.

*He sold his house - It wasn't Tony's house to sell. It belonged to his father so it was his father's decision to sell it.                         

*I was his girlfriend and we were in an exclusive relationship - As well as cheating on his wife with me, Tony was also seeing another woman throughout our entire relationship. He hid both relationships from me. 


*He attended parent/teacher meetings with each of his children's classroom teachers at the beginning of every school year at the country school his children went to - This never occurred because Tony's children attend primary school in the Perth metropolitan area.

*His niece attended school in the Perth metropolitan area while residing with him - This never happened because Tony's niece has never resided with him. She lives in another state.

*He took down his internet dating profile and stopped using dating sites after meeting me - Tony never did this. He has multiple internet profiles and trawls them looking for his next victim even while he is involved with his current one. As soon as he gets what he wants from one victim or can't get it he moves on to the next.

During our relationship Tony was introduced to my family and many of my friends and was known to everyone as my boyfriend. I never got to meet any of Tony's family, friends or associates. While dating we went on many outings, attended functions and worked out regularly at our local gym together and holidayed as a couple on three separate occasions. Tony was a frequent visitor to my house and we often shared home-cooked meals there. I never got to visit Tony's house. He also gave me many gifts and he used to fix things for me and help out around the house.

I ended my relationship with Tony Shiel on June 2nd, 2009 when I discovered the truth about him. After the relationship concluded I found out that Tony is a dishonest businessman who had done things like taken clients' deposit money and never shown up to do the work or he would start work and not return to complete it. He also made clients endure unacceptable delays to get work done and then request more money from clients once jobs had been completed. There were many instances where Tony did not return the deposit money even though he repeatedly promised to do so. He had no intention of doing so because the money had already been spent. It was then up to his victim/s to pursue him through the courts.  


An example of this was when I discovered that Tony had taken a $1 200 deposit to build a staircase for a couple I know. Tony never returned to carry out the work despite persistent queries from the couple. They would repeatedly phone Tony but he would not answer their calls or return their messages. The couple decided not to pursue the matter through the courts and Tony has never repaid their deposit. He got their money for free. 

Tony has been the focus of media attention over his unscrupulous personal and business activities. During February, 2011 articles appeared in the "Inside Cover" of the "West Australian" newspaper about these matters. 

Tony Shiel is a con artist and a fraud. He will infiltrate your life, either personally or professionally, by telling you bare-faced lies and deceiving you. Once he has taken what he wants from you, he will disappear......or try to. He needs to be stopped.

If you have had any dealings with Tony Shiel or know where he is please contact stopshiel@gmail.com