We were in and out of the motel that first month, just constantly, depending on what the

shallies were up to, and if they were getting out of lockup or prison.

And yeah, there was like a very genuine fear that they, like Mary had said,

I'm going to go back to Queensland and kidnap my daughter when she least expects it.

Our guest today, Leck Blaine, was 10 years old when his family was located by Australia's most notorious stalkers,

religious fanatics Michael and Mary Shelley.

They'd been convicted multiple times by then of harassing politicians, religious figures and private citizens all over the world, and of kidnapping.

They were particularly interested in the Blains because they were fostering three of the Shelley's biological children.

Leck Blaine is now one of our country's brightest young writing talents.

He's written several quarterly essays and countless pieces for the monthly, The Guardian, The Age and the Sydney Morning

Herald, among others, and his first book, Car Crash, a memoir, was released in 2021. Leck is now telling

his family's incredible story in a new book called Australian Gospel

and in the middle of it all is a fiercely fought over cohort of kids growing up in pubs around

regional Queensland. In part one of this two-part edition of Australian True Crime we learn about

the backgrounds of the families and the beginnings of the Shelley's rampage around the globe.

This is Australian True Crime.

We acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which this podcast is created,

the Waurundri Woi Wurang people of the Koolin Nation.

And a warning, this episode of the podcast contains graphic descriptions of violence.

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