Bayley jailed for 35 years for Jill Meagher’s rape, murder

• 'Your muscles won't save you in jail,' ex-inmate warns Bayley
• An unforgivable act: Ireland reacts to justice for Jill

For Supreme Court judge Geoffrey Nettle, the brutal rape and murder of Jill Meagher as she was walking home after a night out with friends was one of the worst crimes imaginable.

It was a savage, violent rape of the gravest kind committed upon a woman whom you knew was most certainly not consenting. 

Sentencing Adrian Ernest Bayley to life imprisonment with a minimum of 35 years on Wednesday, Justice Nettle said Bayley was a sexual deviant who had intended to murder Ms Meagher, 29, either because she was threatening to call the police after being savagely raped or because he had taken a perverse pleasure in taking her life.

Jill Meagher's father, George McKeon, makes a statement surrounded by family on the steps of the Supreme Court after the sentencing of Adrian Ernest Bayley. Photo: Michael Clayton-Jones

The judge said Bayley's offending was particularly heinous and made even worse by his attempts to conceal Ms Meagher's body and the fact he had raped and murdered the former ABC employee while on parole.

Justice Nettle said the murder, in terms of moral culpability, ranked ''among the worst kinds conceivable'' and Bayley had to be jailed for a very long time.

The judge said he had decided to impose a non-parole period of 35 years to give Bayley some incentive to rehabilitate himself in prison. He considered Bayley's guilty plea reflected some small degree of remorse.

Adrian Ernest Bayley is escorted into a prison van to begin his minimum 35-year jail sentence. Photo: Jason South

''The deceased was unknown to you,'' the judge told Bayley.

''You were larger and stronger than she and you used that physical advantage to dominate her. In effect, you dragged her off the street, late at night, while she was peaceably going about her own business within a stone's throw of her home.

''The rape was savage and degrading. It took place over time.''

A woman holds up a sign for Adrian Bayley reading 'May you rot in there' as he is driven off to prison. Photo: Jason South

Ms Meagher's husband, Tom, her parents, George and Edith McKeon, and her brother, Michael, sat in court metres from Bayley, who was seated in the dock flanked by five guards, to watch him being sentenced.

Outside court after the sentencing, George McKeon said: ''Jill lived a life full of family, friends and her beloved Tom. Jill was brutally raped and murdered, and is never coming back. Because of Ben Leonard and the team at Victoria Police and Richard Lewis and his colleagues at Public Prosecutions Victoria, justice has now been done. Police and prosecutors, we thank you."

Justice Nettle said Bayley told psychologist Professor James Ogloff that he had tried to kiss Ms Meagher and touch her bottom outside a Brunswick laneway off Sydney Road at 1.38am on September 22 last year.

Ms Meagher reacted by stepping back and slapping him across the face. Bayley told Dr Ogloff he lost it and became outraged that she had rejected his advances.

Bayley was determined to have his way with Ms Meagher and overpowered her and raped her where she stood, the judge said.

He strangled Ms Meagher after she became angry with him following the rape, hit him with her mobile phone and threatened to call the police.

He claimed he later sat in the laneway crying and panicking after realising Ms Meagher was no longer breathing.

Justice Nettle said Bayley claimed that after he had raped Ms Meagher on the bonnet of a car, he tried to quieten her down by putting his arms around her but she fell back and hit her head on the concrete.

''Nevertheless, you held her down with your hand 'on the bottom part of her neck' and maintained pressure until she stopped moving,'' the judge said.

''Asked how long that took, you said no more than a minute and that, because you are not a small person and fairly strong, you should have known better. After that, you said, you sat there crying, panicking, because the deceased had ceased to breathe.

''On the basis of your admissions to the police and Professor Ogloff, I am persuaded beyond reasonable doubt that when you saw an opportunity to rape the deceased, you took it. It was a savage, violent rape of the gravest kind committed upon a woman whom you knew was most certainly not consenting.''

Justice Nettle said Ms Meagher had been a small woman, only 157 centimetres tall and weighing 55 kilograms, and a man of Bayley's size could have easily controlled her.

''I am satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that your previous offending illuminates your moral culpability for the rape and murder of the deceased and ... demonstrates a dangerous propensity to subject women to rape and violence in order to satiate your perverted sexual desires.''

Psychological testing had revealed Bayley was not a psychopath but had a borderline personality disorder that manifested in rapid and extreme mood swings, and, in particular, poorly controlled anger, the judge said.

He said Ms Meagher's rape and murder had had ''profound, terrible effects on the lives of other people.

''Jillian Meagher was a vibrant, talented young woman who in all probability had the greater and best part of her life still in front of her. By your crimes, you have deprived her of all that.

''You have also deprived her husband of her love and companionship and the prospect of the children to which they looked forward together.

''You have stolen from her parents their entitlement to see their daughter blossom and mature as they grow old and to bear the grandchildren to which they looked forward. And you have taken away from her brother the love and support of his only sister.

''Each of their victim impact statements tells of grief and a sense of loss and dismay, which, for those of us who have not experienced it, can only be imagined.

''The sentence I am to impose on you must have regard to to the suffering you have caused them.''

Justice Nettle said while he saw little reason to suppose Bayley would ever be rehabilitated given his past, he could not exclude the chance of improvement.

Justice Nettle sentenced Bayley to life imprisonment for murder and 15 years for rape and ordered he serve a non-parole period of 35 years.

He said if Bayley had not pleaded guilty, he would have jailed him for life with no parole.

Bayley, who was placed on the sex offenders register for life, showed no emotion as he was led away.

During sentencing Bayley kept his head bowed. He looked up only once, when the judge said he would be jailed for life and someone in the public gallery cried, ''Yes.''