Stuart and business partner Gary were restaurant proprietors in Leeds who turned up at Italian restaurant Valandro's in October 2007. Posing as customers who had read a rave-review of the establishment, an oblivious Leanne Battersby praised the work of her newly appointed chef, Paul Clayton.
As Paul entered the restaurant he clocked the pair talking to Leanne and surreptitiously slipped away. Both Tyrone Dobbs and Molly Compton were surprised when Paul returned home but suggested that he got on with the housework.
Puzzled as to why the two men were so interested in the chef, Leanne quickly discovered that Paul owed them money - he'd run off with £500 from the till at Gary and Stuart's restaurant where he had been previously employed, and the pair had traced Paul to Valandro's through reading the restaurant review the previous day. Feeling threatened, Leanne was forced to give them Paul's address but managed to alert him that they were on their way round to the house.
Enlisting the help of Tyrone to stall the men as they knocked on the front door of 9 Coronation Street, Paul hot-footed it out of the back door and ran off down the ginnel. As they had failed to catch up with the elusive Paul, Gary and Stuart returned to Valandro's and menacingly helped themselves to cash, wine and kitchen equipment to the value of Paul's debt.