A man has been jailed for life for the murder of Irishwoman Jill Meagher in Melbourne, Australia.
Adrian-Ernest Bayley, who had pleaded guilty to raping and murdering the 29-year-old on September 22nd last year, was told he will not be able to apply for parole for at least 35 years. The 41-year-old was sentenced to life imprisonment for the killing, plus 15 years for the rape.
Victorian Supreme Court Justice Geoffrey Nettle told Bayley "The nature and gravity of your offending and its antecedence ensure that nothing but life imprisonment will suffice. It was a savage, violent rape of the worst kind. Your killing of the deceased ranks among the worst kind conceivable".
"I am satisfied beyond reasonable doubt you pose a risk to the sexual safety of the community."
Justice Nettle said Bayley would not have received a minimum term if he had not pleaded guilty.
Mrs. Meagher was attacked as she walked back to her flat after having drinks with colleagues from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Bayley dragged her into an alleyway before raping and murdering her.
Speaking outside court Jill's father George McKeon thanked the police and the legal team:
Jill's uncle Michael McKeon spoke to Breakfast from Louth earlier - he thanked the police in Melbourne for their work - and said her family and friends now need time to grieve in private:
Sarah Farmsworth, journalist with ABC News, spoke to Breakfast here on Newstalk:
The serial sex offender was on parole at the time after serving eight years in prison for raping five women previously. He was also on bail, after causing serious injury to a man outside a nightclub.
Mrs. Meagher's heartbroken family, including husband Tom, brother Michael and mother Edith McKeon, were in court to hear the sentence.
The court heard Mrs. Meagher, in all probability, had the greatest and best of her life ahead of her, before she was stolen from her husband and parents by Bayley. Her husband had been robbed of the love and companionship of his life partner, Justice Nettle said.
"You were determined to have your way with her and so you overpowered her and raped her where she stood," the judge said.
"You are a recidivist violent sexual offender who has had little compunction about sexually offending when the mood takes you. You dragged her off the street at night while she was quietly going about her business a stone's throw from her home. The rape was savage and degrading."
Jill Meagher's family outside court
When Bayey was handed his 35 year sentence, cries of 'Yes' could be heard in the public gallery.
A member of the public outside court
At a previous hearing the court heard Tom Meagher’s victim impact statement where he said he was haunted by visions of what happened to her.
He said his future had been taken away and replaced with a life of fear, insomnia and anger.
"What was stolen from me on the 22nd of September 2012 was love, my best friend and my entire world," Mr. Meagher said in his statement.
"I think of the waste of a brilliant mind and a beautiful soul. I am half a person because of this crime."
At the same hearing Mrs Meagher's brother, Michael McKeon, said there were no adequate words to describe the impact of the loss of his sister.
"I am in dreadful pain, I must carry on with living a full life, yet I will never forget my sister," he said in a statement read to the court.
The couple had moved to Australia in 2009 after getting married and set up life in Melbourne. 6 days after the attack Bayley led police to her body, buried in a shallow grave on the outskirts of the city.
Her murder struck a chord in Melbourne with 30,000 people marching through the city to remember Jill and also highlight wider concerns about violence against women.
