Inquest fails to find the killer of Thornbury bookshop murder victim Maria James

The sons of Maria James fear a priest got away with her murder and say they may sue Victoria Police after a second coronial inquest failed to find her killer.

The sons of murdered bookshop owner Maria James may sue Victoria Police over “serious shortcomings” in the homicide probe, which they fear led to priest Anthony Bongiorno getting “away with it”.

A second inquest failed to find the 38-year-old mum’s killer, with sons Mark and Adam James labelling the Coroner’s Courts’ open finding into her 1980 death as “incredibly disappointing”.

Deputy State Coroner Caitlin English called for the criminal investigation into the death of Mrs James to continue after ruling she was killed by a “person unknown”.

However, Ms English determined that priest Father Bongiorno had “motive, proximity and opportunity” to kill her.

Father Bongiorno remained a “significant person of interest”, with Ms English urging for investigations into his involvement to continue.

Murder victim Maria James with son Adam in 1980.

Outside court, Mark renewed his calls for Father Bongiorno’s body to be exhumed and said he wished Ms English had waited for fresh DNA testing to be completed before handing down her finding.

“It’s clear to us and many others that that priest killed our mum, yet he appears to have gotten away with it,” he said.

Adam said: “Those priests killed our mum and they got away with it.

“We love her and miss her every day and will never give up trying to get justice for her. And I do mean that. We want justice.”

The brothers left the door open to pursuing civil action against the police for their flawed investigation.

Mrs James was found stabbed to death 68 times after a frenzied attack in the adjoining home of her High St Thornbury bookshop, on June 17, 1980.

Mrs James had planned to confront Father Anthony Bongiorno after her youngest son, Adam, confided in her that he had been abused by the assistant parish priest.

Another priest, Thomas O’Keeffe, was also later found to have abused Adam, though Ms English found Mrs James wasn’t aware of this at the time of her death, leaving him without a motive to commit the crime.

There was “no evidence” that another suspect, convicted killer Peter Keogh knew Mrs James, however Ms English said police were too quick to rule out the man who lived nearby and he remained a “significant person of interest”.

Mark and Adam James, and their lawyer Naty Guerrero-Diaz, outside the Coroners Court. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

Ms English handed down her 80-page report on Thursday morning following a three-week coronial inquest in September last year, which heard from both Mrs James’ sons.

Adam told the 2021 inquest: “It’s not right – my mum didn’t deserve to be killed by the priests”.

Mark, told the court he believed a “miscarriage of justice may have occurred” after crucial evidence in the case was lost, including the clothing Mrs James was wearing on the day she was killed.

“I do believe that my mum was killed by those priests and somehow they got away with it,” Mark earlier told the court.

“I am deeply concerned with the deficiencies in the police investigation.”

Ms English found Mrs James’ missing clothes and two missing pillowcases from the crime scene was the “most significant” lost opportunity in the police’s investigation of her murder, followed by omissions and a lack of follow-up.

A quilt went missing until 2021 while a pillow from an unrelated case found its way into the evidence box of her case, with DNA from that pillow incorrectly excluding suspects.

Father Anthony Bongiorno had ‘motive, proximity and opportunity’ to kill her, the coroner found.

In handing down three recommendations to the chief commissioner, the Coroner urged Victoria Police to “immediately conduct a complete and thorough physical search for the lost exhibits, namely Mrs James’ clothing and the pillowslips”.

“This is the minimum Victoria Police should do reflecting the gravity of the consequences of the lost exhibits and the importance of clarifying the factual situation regarding their whereabouts,” Ms English found.

She also called for a review of the use of Interpose — the police’s investigation and intelligence management system — and a review of the police manual into investigation case management.

Mark said the inquest highlighted “serious shortcomings” in the police probe, including five separate failures in handling crime scene exhibits.

“This is not good enough and we feel there should be ramifications because this has played a significant role in us being denied justice,” Mark said.

“No victim of crime, or their loved ones, should be denied justice because of mistakes or failures of police.”

Mark and Adam James says the inquest has highlighted ‘serious shortcomings’ in the police probe. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

Electrician Allan Hircoe told the 2021 inquest he saw Father Bongiorno with blood on his hands outside the St Mary’s presbytery.

“He had a sleeve pushed up high on the forearm, blood on both hands, and he had blood up near his ear and on the side of his neck,” Mr Hircoe said.

He recalled Bongiorno telling him he’d cut himself on some roses or a fence.

Mr Hircoe told the priest to wait while he got a first aid kit out of his car, but Bongiorno “disappeared”.

Ms English found Mr Hircoe’s evidence was “undated an uncorroborated”, and weakened by the fact that he didn’t come forward until he saw a photo of Bongiorno in the newspaper.

Mrs James’ former husband, John, found her body on the floor of her bedroom after frantic attempts to access her home.

He had rushed to the bookshop after a phone call with Mrs James, where he heard her scream twice.

Mr James had been returning her earlier message about 11.50am: “There’s someone in the shop, tell him to ring me”.

Ms English found Mr James had “overheard in part” the murder of his former wife and had seen the assailant move behind a curtain inside the home.

Later, an “aggressive and domineering” Father Bongiorno tried to get into the crime scene, adamant he had to administer last rites to the murdered mother.

Mark applied to the Coroners Court in 2017 for the case to be reopened following fresh evidence.

A 1982 inquest had failed to determine who was responsible for her murder.

Father Bongiorno died in 2002 and is buried in an unmarked grave southeast of Melbourne.

Calls for his body to be exhumed have so far gone unanswered.

Outstanding inquiries in the case include DNA testing on 11 human hairs from a quilt, a witness in Italy and probes into marks found of Mrs James’ face – believed to have been caused by a potato masher missing from her kitchen.

There were six people of interest in the murder case.

Ms English ruled out real estate agent Peco Macevski as a suspect, stating it was “improbable” that the man who had a sexual relationship with Mrs James had an opportunity to commit the crime.