Adrian Ernest Bayley receives life sentence for murder and rape of Melbourne woman Jill Meagher

By Paul Anderson - Herald Sun

June 20, 2013

JILL Meagher's family say justice has prevailed after her killer was today condemned to life in prison.

Adrian Ernest Bayley, 41, stood with a hardened face to hear Supreme Court judge Justice Geoffrey Nettle tell him he would serve at least 35 years behind bars for the "savage and degrading" rape and murder.

"Jill lived a life full of family, friends and her beloved (husband) Tom," Jill's father, George McKeon, said outside court afterwards.

"Jill was brutally raped and murdered and is never coming back. Because of (the efforts of homicide detectives and prosecutors involved in the case) justice has now been done."

Ms Meagher's family sat within 10m of her killer during the sentencing. Bayley could only stare at the floor.

He joins a sordid list of criminals serving life terms with long non-parole periods.

His sentence is equal to that of killer CBD gunman Christopher Hudson and now-dead gangland boss Carl Williams.

He can be classed in the same bracket as mass killer Julian Knight, serial killer Paul Denyer, child killer Arthur Freeman and Carl Williams's killer Matt Johnson. And he can expect to do his time hard.

"I bear in mind, as your counsel submitted, that prison will be extremely hard for you because of the need for you to be isolated and protected for your own safety," Justice Nettle said.

Bayley told a psychologist that after coming across Ms Meagher in Sydney Rd last September he kissed her and tried to touch her bottom.

She reacted by slapping him across the face, and he "lost it", Bayley said.

"With that (you said) you pulled her towards you, pushed her on to the bonnet of a car . . . and raped her," Justice Nettle said.

"You became outraged that she should dare repel your advances in that fashion," he said.

"You were determined to have your way with her and so you overpowered her and raped her where she stood.

"Then you attacked her again because she was threatening to call the police, and in the process you strangled her."

The judge said Bayley, who has fathered four children with two partners, had spent 11 years in jail for rapes and sex-related assaults.

In 1990, he raped a young woman in his bedroom while his first wife was pregnant, attacked a girl, 17, near a bus stop, and a 16-year-old hitchhiker.

The judge said Bayley raped five prostitutes between September 2000 and March 2001. He was charged over those rapes while his second partner was pregnant.

He was paroled on March 17, 2010, after serving his minimum term.

"As your criminal record reveals, you are a recidivist violent sexual offender who has had little compunction about sexual offending when the mood takes you, or about threatening and inflicting violence as part of the process," Justice Nettle said.

Bayley saw an opportunity to rape Ms Meagher and "took it".

And he killed her because he knew he would face a lengthy jail term if caught, the judge said.

"I . . . infer . . . you strangled Gillian Meagher with intent to kill her either because she would otherwise have called the police or because of some form of perverted pleasure derived from taking her life," Justice Nettle said.

Bayley's guilty plea entitled him to a "discount" of a minimum term, the judge said.

"(Your crime) is particularly heinous and, in your case, it is made even worse by your attempt to conceal the body and . . . that the offending was committed while you were on parole and on bail," Justice Nettle said.

"I see little reason now, and little has been suggested, to suppose you will ever be rehabilitated."

What We Know

Saturday, September 22, 2012

• 1.30am: Jill Meagher leaves Bar Etiquette in Sydney Rd, Brunswick, in Melbourne's inner-north to walk home. CCTV from the Dutchess Boutique captures both Ms Meagher and Adrian Bayley walking past.

• 1.38am: Bayley allegedly grabs Ms Meagher and drags her into a nearby laneway off Hope St.

• 1.40am – 1.45am: Neighbours hear a woman yelling from laneway. After a few minutes the yelling stops.

• 2am: Tom Meagher tries calling his wife's mobile phone.

• 4am: Mr Meagher leaves his home in Lux Way – not far from the scene - to go and look for his wife.

• 4.22am: It is alleged that having gone home to Coburg in Melbourne's northern suburbs for a shovel, Bayley returns in his white Holden Astra.

• 4.26am: Car allegedly drives off with Ms Meagher's body in the boot.

• 6am: After continuing to call his wife's phone all night without luck, Mr Meagher reports her missing.

Sunday, September 23

• 12.30pm: A Facebook page is set up in the hope somebody saw Ms Meagher.

• 3.15pm: Police release public call for information about Ms Meagher's disappearance.

Monday, September 24

• 6.30am: Ms Meagher's handbag found in lane off Hope St. Police believe it was planted the day before.

• 8.50am: Homicide squad takes over the case.

• 1.45pm: Forensic officers recover evidence from the lane way. Detectives interview Mr Meagher.

Tuesday, September 25

• 12.30pm: Forensic police search the Meagher home and take away their car and bags of items for testing.

• 3.55pm: Police release footage from the Dutchess Boutique of Ms Meagher and a man in a blue hoodie.

• 6.15pm: Police return to the Meagher home and search again.

Thursday, September 27

• 2.30pm: Bayley arrested in Coburg.

• 3.58pm: Police interview with Bayley begins.

• 10pm: Interview suspended while police travel to a site allegedly nominated by Bayley.

Friday, September 28

• 3am: Bayley remanded at an out-of-sessions hearing after being charged with murder.

• 4am: Ms Meagher's body is taken away by coronial staff after being recovered from a shallow grave at the side of Black Hill Rd in Gisborne South, north of Melbourne.

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

• 4.30pm: Bayley pleads not guilty to the single count of murder and two of the three counts of rape he was facing.

Jill Meagher's killer Adrian Bayley had history of violent sex attacks; parole board failed to take him off the streets

By Sarah Farnsworth - ABC.net.au

June 11, 2013

The Melbourne man who has pleaded guilty to murdering ABC employee Jill Meagher has a long history of violent attacks on women and has admitted faking his way through a sex offenders' program, a court has heard.

Adrian Ernest Bayley was also allowed to continue parole despite being convicted of assault.

Today, Bayley faced a pre-sentencing hearing in the Victorian Supreme Court, where his lawyers said he accepted he should be given a life sentence for the killing of Ms Meagher.

Justice Geoffrey Nettle also lifted a suppression order, allowing details of Bayley's history to be revealed.

The 41-year-old Coburg man has an extensive history of rape and violence.

The Victorian Parole Board failed to cancel his parole after a violent assault and a judge's warning that the public needed to be protected from him.

Bayley's history of violent attacks on women spans more than two decades, the court was told.

When he was 19, he raped two teenagers in separate attacks.

One was a 16-year-old family friend. He also attempted to rape a 16-year-old hitchhiker.

In June 1991 he was sentenced to his first stint behind bars.

He served just 22 months of a five-year sentence for sexual assault, later admitting he faked his way through a sex offenders' program to get early release.

In September 2000, he began what Judge Tony Duckett described as a horrendous wave of crimes against St Kilda sex workers, raping five prostitutes over a six-month period.

Bayley was jailed for a minimum of eight years for trapping his victims in his vehicle and repeatedly raping them.

The crime spree prompted the judge to give the ominous warning that society needed to be protected from him.

"You used an array of threats and violence to force your victims to satisfy your gross sexual appetite," he said.

"You forced your victims to accept a series of sexual acts that caused them horrifying distress".

On parole when he murdered Jill Meagher

When he snatched Ms Meagher off the street last year, Bayley was on parole having served his sentence for the St Kilda rapes, the court has heard.

However in February 2012, the Parole Board did not revoke his parole when he pleaded guilty to punching a man unconscious outside a Geelong cafe.

Bayley pleaded guilty to the assault and the presiding Geelong magistrate determined a three-month jail sentence was warranted, given his violent past.

The ABC understands the attack did not raise alarm bells with the parole board as it was not a sex crime.

Bayley appealed against his sentence and was left free to walk the streets and meet Ms Meagher.

Ms Meagher was snatched off Brunswick's Sydney Road after a night out with friends on September 21 last year.

Haunting CCTV images released by courts showed her attempt to make the short walk home, before her chance meeting with Bayley outside a dress shop.

Just eight minutes after leaving Brunswick's Etiquette bar, Ms Meagher was accosted by Bayley.

At the same time, her husband Tom sent her an SMS asking if she was OK.

By 5:00am, Mr Meagher was searching the streets for his missing wife, after 80 or so calls to her phone had gone unanswered.

Bayley told police 'they should never have let me out'

The court was told Bayley later admitted to police he had killed her, blaming an argument he had with his girlfriend earlier in the night.

"I strangled her," he told police.

"You know it really wasn't my intention to hurt her. All I thought was, what have I done?"

Bayley returned to the scene at 4:22am, put Ms Meagher's body in the boot and drove to Gisborne South to bury her on the side of the road.

"I cried, man, and I dug a hole ... I didn't cry for me," Bayley told detectives.

"I'm going to jail for a long time... I hope they bring back the death penalty before I get sentenced. I have no life left.

"They should have the death penalty for people like me.

"How many chances does a person need? They should never have let me out."

Earlier this year, the Victorian Government admitted existing laws had failed and tougher measures were needed.

The Government is introducing legislation to ensure people who reoffend while on parole will automatically have their parole cancelled or reassessed.

There will be a mandatory cancellation of parole for sex and violent offenders who are convicted of the same type of offence while on release.

Key points

• Adrian Bayley has pleaded guilty to killing Jill Meagher last year.

• A suppression order has been lifted, meaning Bayley's history can be revealed.

• He has served a total of 11 years in prison for the rape and attempted rape of eight women

• When he was 19 he raped two teenagers and attempted to rape another.

• He served time behind bars, but faked his way through a sex offender program to get early release.

• In 2000 he raped five prostitutes over a six-month period.

• He was jailed for a minimum of eight years over the attacks.

• In 2012 while on parole, he assaulted a man in Geelong.

• The ABC understands the attack did not raise alarm bells with the Parole Board, as it was not a sex crime.

• Bayley was on parole when he raped and murdered Ms Meagher in 2012.

Adrian Bayley pleads guilty to Jill Meagher's murder

By Sarah Farnsworth - ABC.net.au

April 5, 2013

Melbourne man Adrian Ernest Bayley has admitted to last year's murder of ABC employee Jill Meagher.

Just a month after he was committed to stand trial, Bayley, 41, pleaded guilty in the Victorian Supreme Court to deliberately killing Ms Meagher in the inner-north suburb of Brunswick in September.

Ms Meagher's family was not in court today but police say they are relieved the case is resolved.

Bayley has been remanded in custody and will return to court in June.

The disappearance of Ms Meagher, 29, sparked a widespread social media campaign and made international headlines when she vanished from busy Sydney Road after a night out with friends on September 21.

Haunting CCTV images released by courts show her attempt to make the five-minute, 500-metre walk home before her chance meeting with Bayley outside a dress shop.

It was at 1:38am, just eight minutes after she left Brunswick bar Etiquette, that Ms Meagher was raped and killed.

At the same time, her husband Tom sent her a text message asking if she was OK.

By 5am, Mr Meagher was searching the streets for his missing wife after 80 or so calls to her phone had gone unanswered.

Her body was later found at Gisborne, 50 kilometres north-west of the city.

Police arrested Bayley five days later.

Other details of the case cannot be reported for legal reasons.

Documents show what Meagher's accused killer said to police

By Jean Edwards - ABC.net.au

March 13, 2013

Court documents reveal the man accused of raping and murdering Melbourne woman Jill Meagher blamed an argument with his girlfriend for his anger and aggression on the night she was killed.

Adrian Ernest Bayley, 41, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to raping Ms Meagher, but not guilty to two other counts of rape and one charge of murder.

Bayley is accused of dragging the ABC employee into a laneway off Hope Street in Brunswick in Melbourne and raping and strangling her.

Photos released by the court have given a chilling new glimpse of the final moments of Ms Meagher.

A police summary tendered to the Melbourne Magistrates Court says Bayley had an argument with his girlfriend about his "ongoing jealousy and possessiveness" at the Lounge Bar in Swanston Street on the night of September 21.

The court heard Ms Meagher was snatched from the street just eight minutes after she left a Sydney Road bar where she had been socialising with colleagues.

The police summary says Bayley saw Ms Meagher walking down the road and ran to catch up with her.

"I was just walking ahead of her and we'd already interacted on Sydney Road, and that's when she rang her brother. She was actually telling me about her father," Bayley later told police.

He told police Ms Meagher looked distraught and like she was lost.

"You know it wasn't really my intention to hurt her," he told detectives.

"I spoke to her, you know and said, look... I'll help you.

"She flipped me off and that made me angry, because I was actually trying to do a nice thing... and I didn't take well to her response."

'What have I done?'

Prosecutors say Bayley accosted Ms Meagher at 1:38am and dragged her into the laneway, one minute after her husband sent her a text message asking if she was OK.

"I actually apologised... I can't imagine how - how she felt, but I know how I felt. It's not nice, man, it's not nice. And all I thought was, 'what have I done?'," Bayley told police.

"I cannot believe that it - it went that way. I swear."

Police say he left her body in the laneway while he went home to get a shovel and his car.

Bayley allegedly returned at 4:22am, put Ms Meagher's body in the boot and drove to Gisborne South to bury her on the side of the road.

"I cried, man, and I dug a hole ... I didn't cry for me," Bayley told detectives.

The court documents reveal Bayley ran out of petrol on the way home and had to wave down a passing motorist who took him to a petrol station to get fuel in a jerry can, and back to his car.

The summary says police used data from Vodafone to track Ms Meagher's mobile phone.

It indicated that her phone was in the Brunswick area until 4:24am, then moved north along CityLink near Moreland Road at 4:40am.

Police say they obtained a list of the cars that passed through the gantry, which led them to Bayley's car and ultimately, to his arrest.

'Death penalty'

Police say he admitted in a 10-hour interview to raping and strangling Ms Meagher, claiming it was because of the argument he had with his girlfriend earlier in the night, and that he had an "angry and aggressive demeanour which he transferred onto the deceased".

"I'm going to jail for a long time... I hope they bring back the death penalty before I get sentenced... I have no life left," he told detectives.

"They should have the death penalty for people like me."

Police say Bayley's girlfriend found a broken sim card that belonged to Ms Meagher's phone when she was washing his clothes.

"[His girlfriend] has hung the clothes on the line and has placed the broken sim card in the clothes basket to ask the accused about it when he returned home," the summary said.

"Before [his girlfriend] had the opportunity to ask the accused about the sim card, the accused was arrested by homicide detectives."

Police found an ABC-marked pencil and two cigarette butts during a search of the laneway.

Her handbag was found the next day.

Bayley has been committed to stand trial in the Victorian Supreme Court.

Jill Meagher's accused killer Adrian Ernest Bayley watched movies after attack, court documents show

By Paul Anderson - Herald Sun

March 13, 2013

THE man accused of murdering Jill Meagher after raping her in a laneway then slept into the afternoon and enjoyed kebabs and watched movies with his de facto, according to court documents.

In a police statement tendered in court during Adrian Bayley's committal hearing, his de facto partner said that after news reports broke about Ms Meagher's disappearance, he warned her not to walk alone.

"I said, 'Oh, she's pretty and ... works for the ABC,' and he goes, 'Yeah ... that's why I'm saying that this place is not safe'," the woman said.

"He goes, 'Don't walk alone at night'."

The woman, whom the Herald Sun has chosen not to name, told police how she and Bayley went out drinking with his mates on the night of Friday September 21, before she left him at a Swanston St bar because of an argument about seating.

An elderly woman who owned the Coburg home where the couple boarded told police she saw the de facto arrive home.

"She said she was hiding from Adrian," the landlady said in a police statement tendered in court.

The de facto ignored Bayley's subsequent texts and phone calls that night.

According to police documents, Bayley returned home and changed before heading to Brunswick . There he dragged Ms Meagher into a laneway about 1.38am, raped, and allegedly strangled her.

The court heard he returned to the laneway, with a shovel in his car, about 4.22am and drove Ms Meagher's body to Gisborne South, where he buried her.

The elderly landlady saw Bayley, who worked as a pipeline layer, at the Coburg house about 6.30am.

She told police: "He said to me, 'I've just had a shower - been a big night. I just had a phone call from my boss. He asked me to go and check on a pipe."'

Bayley's partner told police he came in about 7am that Saturday.

She said they slept until maybe 1pm before driving to pick up a car from a Flemington hotel.

"We went in my car to Flemington (and) on the way we stopped and had kebabs," she told police.

"And then we went and picked up his car and then we got some movies."

Photos document crime scene

Photographs documenting the case emerged from the police brief of evidence.

The photos, which were tendered during Bayley’s committal hearing at Melbourne Magistrates’ Court yesterday, were obtained by the Herald Sun this morning.

The photos document the crime scene in the Hope St laneway in Brunswick where the Irish-born ABC employee, 29, died after being raped.

It is a graffiti-stained alleyway typical of Melbourne’s inner suburbs. But it now carries a dark and violent history.

The photos show police evidence plates dotted about the scene to nominate possible items of interest, including a cigarette butt and an ABC pencil.

Ms Meagher’s handbag can be seen dumped in the laneway, her ABC employee pass on full show.

There are pictures of Bayley’s white Astra.

He drove the car back to the laneway several hours after leaving Ms Meagher there and placed her body in the boot, the court was told.

As the Herald Sun revealed today, that car ran out of petrol as Bayley was driving home after burying Ms Meagher.

There are also pictures of the spade Bayley used to dig the shallow grave by the side of Blackhill Rd in Gisborne South in the early hours of September 22.

Other photos include a shot of Ms Meagher’s broken Vodafone SIM card, which Bayley’s girlfriend found at the bottom of her washing machine after washing his clothes on September 27.

“(The girlfriend) has hung the clothes on the line and has placed the broken SIM card in the clothes basket to ask (Bayley) about it when he returned home (from work),” the tendered police summary said.

“Before she had the opportunity to ask (Bayley) about the SIM card, he was arrested by Homicide detectives."

A police summary of the case against Bayley, tendered in court, was released to the media after Bayley's committal hearing.

According to the summary, on the night of September 21 last year, while Ms Meagher was out celebrating with friends in Brunswick, Bayley was arguing with his girlfriend at Swanston St's Lounge Bar.

The pipeline layer, 41, was arguing with her about "jealousy and possessiveness".

His girlfriend left and returned to their home in Coburg.

"The accused (Bayley) attempted to contact his girlfriend by phone; however, she refused to answer or return text messages and phone calls," the summary stated.

Bayley left the Lounge Bar at 12.25am and caught a taxi home. There, he changed into a blue hoodie jumper, the summary said.

It was about 1am when Ms Meagher, 29, left the Brunswick Green Hotel with a friend and walked to the Etiquette Bar.

Her friend left soon after, twice offering Ms Meagher a ride in a taxi.

But she declined, deciding to walk the short distance home.

On her way, outside Chemist Warehouse, she asked a group of three people for a cigarette and had a "short friendly conversation" with the trio.

She then continued on her way along Sydney Rd, towards Hope St.

Bayley was in the area by that stage, and saw Ms Meagher walking alone.

"The accused has run up from behind Ms Meagher before slowing to a walk as he approached her," the police summary said.

Bayley would later tell police: "I was just walking ahead of her and we'd already interacted on Sydney Rd and that's when she rang her brother. She was actually telling me about her father."

Ms Meagher called her brother, Michael McKeon, at 1.35am to talk about their sick father.

Mr McKeon said he would call her back in a minute or two. He would try, but his sister's phone would ring out several times.

Ms Meagher's husband, Tom, knew his wife was out for drinks with workmates.

At 1.37am, he sent her a text message from their home: "Are you okay?"

The chief Crown prosecutor, Gavin Silbert, SC, told the court it was 1.38am when Bayley "accosted" Ms Meagher and "proceeded to drag her into a laneway on Hope St between Oven St and Sydney Rd, where he has raped and strangled her".

Bayley later told detectives: "I actually apologised. I can't imagine how she felt but I know how I felt. All I thought was, 'What have I done?'"

Mr Silbert told the court: "(Bayley) has left the body of the deceased in the laneway and returned to his home address, where he has collected a spade and his white Holden Astra."

At 1.47am, an extremely worried Tom Meagher sent his wife another text.

"Answer me, I'm really worried," it read.

He sent another at 2.07am: "Please pick up."

The court heard Bayley returned to the laneway at 4.22am and put Ms Meagher's body into the boot of the car.

He drove to Blackhill Rd, Gisborne South, where he buried Ms Meagher by the side of the road.

"I cried, man, and I dug a hole . . . I didn't cry for me," Bayley told detectives.

Tom Meagher, meanwhile, had searched the Brunswick streets in vain.

"I kept trying to ring her but there was no answer," he said in his police statement.

Bayley was driving home from Gisborne when his car ran out of petrol near the Calder Highway.

He managed to wave down motorist Dayle Watkins, who drove him to a nearby service station.

There, about 6am, he filled a jerry can with petrol.

Mr Watkins then drove Bayley back to his vehicle.

On September 27, after investigating the crime scene and gathering evidence, including CCTV footage and phone records, homicide detectives arrested Bayley.

"After investigators informed (Bayley) of the evidence implicating him, he made admissions," the police summary stated.

"(Bayley) stated that it was due to the argument that he had had earlier in the night with his girlfriend, that (Bayley) had an angry and aggressive demeanour which he transferred onto the deceased."

Yesterday, Bayley pleaded not guilty to one count of murder and two counts of rape.

He pleaded guilty to one charge of rape.

Bayley 'admitted raping and strangling' ABC employee Jill Meagher

By Sarah Farnsworth and Jean Edwards

March 12, 2013

A packed Melbourne court has heard the man accused of killing ABC employee Jill Meagher told police that he raped and strangled her.

Adrian Ernest Bayley, 41, of Coburg, is facing a contested committal hearing to determine whether he should stand trial for Meagher's rape and murder.

Bayley is contesting the one murder and three rape charges laid against him.

Prosecutor Gavin Silbert SC said Meagher was accosted by Bayley on Sydney Road in Brunswick, just eight minutes after she left a bar where she had been drinking with colleagues in September.

The court heard that at 1:38am, Bayley dragged Meagher into a laneway and raped and strangled her.

Mr Silbert told the court that Bayley left Meagher's body in the laneway and returned home to get a shovel and his car.

He returned at 4:22am and it is alleged he drove to Gisborne and left Meagher's body on the side of a dirt road.

The court heard that during a 10-hour police interview, Bayley admitted to raping and strangling Meagher, before leading homicide detectives to her body.

Bayley, who is sitting behind a security screen in the dock flanked by three security officers, has not yet had the chance to respond.

A witness whose home over looks the Hope Street laneway has told the court she was lying in bed when she heard a woman's voice outside say "Get out of there".

She said the female sounded drunk as her voice was "not clear and prolonged", and she and her husband joked there were people having sex outside.

"We were just joking," she told the court.

She told the court 10 minutes later she heard footsteps and did not hear the woman's voice again.

Pathologist Matthew Lynch told the court Meagher was found fully clothed and lying on her side.

Dr Lynch told the court she had suffered an "unusual" injury with bruises and haemorrhaging indicating she had been held around the neck with some force and for a long time.

He testified Meagher's ability to resist would have been limited by her level of intoxication.

Unprecedented interest

Meagher's parents George and Edith McKeon and her brother Michael have been in court for the hearing.

Her husband Tom Meagher was inside the court but left when Bayley came into the dock.

Last week, Bayley's lawyers expressed concern about the "almost unprecedented" level of public interest in the case, referring to both the traditional and social media coverage expressing public anger over Meagher's death.

Magistrate Felicity Broughton told the court that she expects the hearing to be held in an "appropriate and dignified manner".

The court was told some material described as extremely distressing and sensitive may not be made public.

Adrian Ernest Bayley's edited record of interview in the Jill Meagher rape and murder case

By Anthony Dowsley, Wayne Flower - Herald Sun.com.au

March 12, 2013

READ NOW: COURT documents reveal for the first time what Jill Meagher's alleged killer told police in his interview.

EDITED RECORD OF INTERVIEW WITH ADRIAN ERNEST BAYLEY TENDERED TO COURT 

BAYLEY: You know what? I hope I never get out, because you know why I hope that, because then no one else ever has to be hurt because someone hurts me. I don’t deal with – with hurt very well. You know it wasn’t really my intention to hurt her, you know that? When we conversed, I swear to you man – I swear to you I’d – I’d just – I spoke to her and she looked – she looked distraught. Does that make sense?

DETECTIVE: Yeah it does.

BAYLEY: She didn’t look happy.

DETECTIVE: Yeah it does.

BAYLEY: And I spoke to – I spoke to her, you know and said, look, I’ll just – I’ll – I’ll help you, you know. That’s what I said to her and she was like fu-- --- anyway it doesn’t matter. She flipped me off and that made me angry, because I was trying to do a nice thing. You know that?

DETECTIVE: Yeah yeah.

BAYLEY: She looked distraught.

---

BAYLEY:She looked distraught, you know. She looked like she was lost … always try to do the right thing some – you know, most of the time and I didn’t take well to her response, you know. I just don’t wanna go through it in detail. That – I can't.

DETECTIVE: What happened to Jill?

BAYLEY:They should have the death penalty for people like me.

DETECTIVE:I can’t tell you what’s gonna happen.

BAYLEY:No well – that’s what I hope.

---

DETECTIVE:So you said she fobbed you off and you got angry. Tell me what happened then?

BAYLEY:Oh I just got pissed off and I actually walked off and she followed. I actually walked in front of her and she followed.

DETECTIVE:Yep.

BAYLEY:And it just got worse.

DETECTIVE:Tell me what happened.

BAYLEY:(Starts to cry) … like a big sissy man.

---

BAYLEY:I wanna do the right thing. It’s not fair on any of this to – it’s not fair of any of this stuff to have happened, let alone her family and stuff too.

DETECTIVE: Yeah.

BAYLEY:Not knowing.

DETECTIVE:Would you be willing to come with me and show me?

BAYLEY:I’ll try. I’ll do my best man.

DETECTIVE:I appreciate that.

BAYLEY:I’m not sure how to get there.

---

BAYLEY:I know what I’m saying to you. It’s not fair for this to have happened, and it’s not fair on her family and its not fair on them not knowing. It’s not fair.

DETECTIVE:Um. I understand why you don’t want to go into the detail. I understand that totally. Um how – how did she die?

BAYLEY:(Starts to cry). I strangled her.

DETECTIVE:Sorry?

BAYLEY:(Continues to cry). What have I done? What have I done man?

DETECTIVE:And where did that happen?

BAYLEY:On Hope Street.

---

DETECTIVE:How did she come to get in the laneway?

BAYLEY:we – we walked past it.

DETECTIVE:yeah

BAYLEY:That far down Hope St. I didn’t take her from the street, or – you know?

DETECTIVE: Yeah and then?

BAYLEY:And we were just talking you know? We weren’t – there was no argument, there was no – it was just talking. And then um …

DETECTIVE:Alright.

BAYLEY:I was just walking ahead of her and we’d already interacted on Sydney Rd, and that’s when she rang her brother. She was actually telling me about her father.

DETECTIVE:Right

BAYLEY:You know? And I was just – I was trying to be nice and – she kept going from being nice to nasty, to nice, to – you know what I mean?

DETECTIVE:Yep.

BAYLEY:And it just sort of ended up in the alley. I cant remember yeah, you know what I mean, 100 per cent, like how it ended up. We were just sort of – we were standing there.

---

DETECTIVE: Um how did you – how did you strangle her?

BAYLEY:With my hands.

DETECTIVE:With your hands. And once that had happened, what did you do?

(interview interrupted by knock at door, then resumes)

BAYLEY:I didn’t run.

DETECTIVE:You didn’t run?

BAYLEY:(starts to cry) That’s not it man. I actually apologised.

DETECTIVE:To her?

BAYLEY:But I didn’t run. I didn’t – didn’t know what to do. It’s a horrible feeling man.

DETECTIVE: Yeah.

BAYLEY:I can’t imagine how – how she felt, but I know how I felt. It’s not nice man, its not nice. And all I thought was what have I done? That’s all I thought. That was the thought in my head, what have I done after I said sorry. I didn’t know what else to say, man. I don’t know what else to say.

DETECTIVE:And what happened to her belongings?

BAYLEY:The phone I smashed. Just the other stuff I threw.

--

DETECTIVE:You walk to the side, you get the shovel. Tell me what you do.

BAYLEY:I cried man, and I dug a hole.

DETECTIVE:Yeah

BAYLEY:I cried man, And I didn’t cry for me, you need to understand that. I didn’t cry for me, just like I’m not crying for me now.

Death of Jill Meagher

Jill Meagher was a 29-year-old Irish woman who worked for the ABC in Melbourne, Australia. She died after disappearing on 22 September 2012 from Brunswick, an inner suburb of Melbourne, Victoria.

Meagher's disappearance attracted widespread media attention and a review of closed-circuit television images from the area of her disappearance. Her body was discovered six days later at Gisborne South, about 50 kilometres from Brunswick. Adrian Ernest Bayley pleaded guilty to her rape and murder, and was sentenced to life imprisonment with a 35 year non-parole period.

Victim

Gillian "Jill" Meagher was born on 30 October 1982 in Drogheda, County Louth, Ireland. She worked for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) in an administrative and occasional on-air role.

Disappearance

After work on 21 September 2012, Meagher went with co-workers from ABC Radio to the Brunswick Green bar in Sydney Road, Brunswick, later moving to Bar Etiquette (also in Sydney Road). She left the bar at around 1:30 am and began the short walk back to the flat she shared with her husband Tom.

While walking home Meagher called her brother, Michael McKeon, and spoke with him briefly about their father. At their flat her husband woke to realise she was not home and started searching for her.

The search for Meagher attracted high levels of media attention, including social media. Over the next few days Closed-circuit television (CCTV) video emerged and was released by Victoria Police. The video, recorded in front of the Duchess Boutique bridal shop at around 1:43 am on the night she disappeared, showed her speaking to a man in a blue hoodie who had also been filmed walking outside the shop four minutes earlier. This was the last known time the 29 year old was captured on camera.

Investigation, arrest and guilt

The police investigation was assisted by the CCTV video. Police questioned and then arrested Adrian Ernest Bayley, then 41, of Coburg. At around 10:00 pm on 28 September, five days after Meagher's disappearance, he led police to where her body was buried in a shallow grave at Black Hill Road in Gisborne South. Meagher had been strangled. He was charged with rape and murder and was held in custody to await trial. While in custody he attempted suicide.

At a precommittal hearing in January 2013 a two-day committal case in the Melbourne Magistrates Court was scheduled to begin on 12 March 2013. According to news reports at the time the accused intended to fight the charges.

On 5 April 2013, Bayley pleaded guilty to the rape and murder of Meagher. On 26 April 2013, he pleaded not guilty to a number of other sexual assaults in Melbourne dating back to 2000. He appeared in court on 11 June 2013 for a pre-sentencing hearing. A suppression order was lifted by Justice Geoffrey Nettle allowing Bayleys' "extensive history of rape and violence" to be revealed. On 19 June 2013, Adrian Bayley was sentenced to life imprisonment, with a non-parole period of 35 years.

Social media and impact

Social media outlets including Twitter and Facebook played a significant role in bringing the case to prominence and in helping with the police investigation.

In the days after she went missing, Meagher's ABC colleagues used Twitter to help in the search for her. A Facebook group, "Help us Find Jill Meagher", was also set up in the hope of finding her alive. By 27 September, five days after her disappearance, the group had received over 100,000 likes.

As a suspect had been charged with rape and murder, Victoria Police tried, initially unsuccessfully, to have Facebook pages about the case removed. As a result of the social media response the Premier of Victoria, Ted Baillieu, suggested that law reform might be necessary to avoid social media coverage prejudicing the jury pool.

On 30 September a public march was organised with a crowd of 30,000 walking down Sydney Road in memory of Meagher. The march also symbolised broader concerns about violence against women, with ensuing discussion on current issues websites.

Memorials

A stonemason placed an engraved 50 kilogram granite slab and memorial plaque at the Black Hill Road, Gisborne South site where Meagher's body was found. The Melton City Council later removed the memorial "with the permission of the family and in consideration of the Black Hill Road community". The council said that local residents were upset over the continuing attention and concerned it was attracting too much traffic. It was, however, a controversial move as other local residents had been tending the site.

A street art memorial called "RIP Jill" was created in Hosier Lane, Melbourne by a mystery artist in September 2012. In early November 2012 the 20 metre mural was painted almost completely over by other street artists. The Lord Mayor of Melbourne, Robert Doyle, said that "The street art community painted the original message and have now painted over it. Personally I would have preferred just the name Jill to remain as a more permanent gesture but that is obviously no longer possible." Of the transient nature of such works, the Premier of Victoria, Ted Baillieu, said that "The tribute to Jill Meagher was created very much in the spirit of Hosier Lane, an iconic part of Melbourne, and no doubt that will continue."

Wikipedia.org