The Bookshop Murder: Part Two - Australian True Crime

Strewth - Australian True Crime and Mystery Podcast · Oct 6, 2026 · 31m

The Murder of Maria James - Part 2 of 2 In 2013, a council electrician named Alan Hircoe opened a newspaper and saw a photograph of a priest. He recognised the face. Years earlier, he said, while working at the presbytery of St Mary's in Thornbury, he had seen that priest come in from the garden with blood on his face and hands. The priest was Father Anthony Bongiorno, and he had tried to force his way into Maria James's bookshop on the afternoon she was murdered. But he had an alibi, and police believed the DNA had cleared him. Subscribe now to Strewth Premium on Patreon -…