Adrian Bayley

Case details

Adrian Ernest Bayley was convicted for the rape and murder of Jill Meagher.

Timeline

• September 21, 2012 — Jill Meagher left Bar Etiquette in Sydney Rd, Brunswick, to walk home after a night out; CCTV footage captured both Ms Meagher and Adrian Bayley walking past a boutique.
• 1:38am (September 21, 2012) — Bayley allegedly grabbed Ms Meagher and dragged her into a nearby laneway off Hope St.
• 1:40am – 1:45am (September 21, 2012) — Neighbours heard a woman yelling from the laneway; after a few minutes the yelling stopped.
• 2am (September 21, 2012) — Tom Meagher tried calling his wife's mobile phone.
• 4am (September 21, 2012) — Tom Meagher left his home in Lux Way to go and look for his wife.
• 4:22am (September 21, 2012) — Bayley allegedly returned in his white Holden Astra having gone home to Coburg in Melbourne’s northern suburbs for a shovel.
• 4:26am (September 21, 2012) — A car allegedly drove off with Ms Meagher's body in the boot.
• 6am (September 21, 2012) — After continuing to call his wife's phone all night without luck, Mr Meagher reported her missing.
• September 23, 2012 12.30pm — A Facebook page was set up in the hope somebody saw Ms Meagher.
• September 23, 2012 3.15pm — Police released a public call for information about Ms Meagher's disappearance.
• September 24, 2012 6.30am — Ms Meagher's handbag was found in a lane off Hope St; police believed it was planted the day before.
• September 24, 2012 8.50am — A homicide squad took over the case.
• September 24, 2012 1.45pm — Forensic officers recovered evidence from the lane way.
• September 25, 2012 12.30pm — Forensic police searched the Meagher home and took away their car and bags of items for testing.
• September 25, 2012 3.55pm — Police released footage from the Dutchess Boutique of Ms Meagher and a man in a blue hoodie.
• September 25, 2012 6.15pm — Police returned to the Meagher home and searched again.
• September 27, 2012 2.30pm — Bayley was arrested in Coburg.
• September 27, 2012 3.58pm — A police interview with Bayley began.
• September 27, 2012 10pm — The interview was suspended while police travelled to a site allegedly nominated by Bayley.
• September 28, 2012 3am — Bayley was remanded at an out-of-sessions hearing after being charged with murder.
• September 28, 2012 4am — Ms Meagher's body was 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.
• March 12, 2013 4.30pm — Bayley pleaded not guilty to the single count of murder and two of the three counts of rape he was facing.
• March 12, 2013 — A committal hearing was scheduled to begin on 12 March 2013 following a precommittal hearing in January 2013.
• March 13, 2013 — Court documents revealed Bayley blamed an argument with his girlfriend for his anger and aggression on the night she was killed.
• April 5, 2013 — Bayley pleaded guilty in the Victorian Supreme Court to deliberately killing Ms Meagher in Brunswick in September.
• June 11, 2013 — Bayley faced a pre-sentencing hearing in the Victorian Supreme Court.
• June 20, 2013 — Bayley was sentenced to life imprisonment with a 35 year non-parole period.

The offence

Jill Meagher, an ABC employee in Melbourne, died after disappearing on 22 September 2012 from Brunswick, an inner suburb of Melbourne, Victoria. Her husband, Tom Meagher, searched for her after she went missing. Bayley accosted Ms Meagher and dragged her into a laneway on Hope St in Brunswick, where prosecutors said she was raped and strangled. Bayley left her body in the laneway, later returned with a shovel, placed her body in the boot of his car, drove to Gisborne South, and buried her in a shallow grave by Black Hill Rd.

The judge described the rape as “savage and degrading” and stated that Bayley strangled Jill Meagher with intent to kill her.

Investigation, evidence and CCTV

Victoria Police used CCTV video, police questioning, and evidence recovery from the laneway off Hope St. Forensic officers recovered evidence from the lane way. Police also recovered evidence relating to Ms Meagher’s handbag and cell phone activity, and they used data to track her mobile phone. Police released footage from the Duchess Boutique showing Ms Meagher and a man in a blue hoodie.

Bayley allegedly 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.

Photos documenting the crime scene emerged from the police brief of evidence. The photos included evidence plates around the scene, a cigarette butt, and an ABC pencil. The photos also showed Ms Meagher’s handbag dumped in the laneway, her ABC employee pass, and Bayley’s white Astra. Additional photos showed the spade Bayley used to dig a shallow grave by the side of Blackhill Rd in Gisborne South and a broken Vodafone SIM card that Bayley’s girlfriend found after washing his clothes.

Arrest and custody

Police arrested Bayley five days after Ms Meagher’s disappearance and charged him with rape and murder. 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. While in custody he attempted suicide. Bayley was held in custody to await trial and was remanded after being charged with murder.

Bayley later made admissions to police after investigators informed him of evidence implicating him, including that the admissions related to an argument he had earlier in the night with his girlfriend, and that he had an angry and aggressive demeanour which he transferred onto the deceased.

Trial and plea

Bayley faced contested charges at the committal stage, including a contested committal hearing to determine whether he should stand trial for rape and murder. At the committal hearing he pleaded not guilty to the single count of murder and two of the three counts of rape he was facing, and he later pleaded guilty to one charge of rape. Prosecutor Gavin Silbert SC said 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”.

On 5 April 2013, Bayley pleaded guilty to deliberately killing Ms Meagher.

Sentencing

The sentencing hearing took place in the Victorian Supreme Court before Justice Geoffrey Nettle. Bayley received a life sentence and was to serve at least 35 years behind bars. The judge said prison would be extremely hard for Bayley because of the need for him to be isolated and protected for his own safety.

Other details

Family and people mentioned

Jill Meagher’s father George McKeon spoke outside court after sentencing. Jill Meagher’s brother Michael McKeon attended. Jill Meagher’s husband Tom Meagher sent text messages asking “Are you okay?” and “Answer me, I'm really worried,” and “Please pick up.” Michael McKeon was called by Jill Meagher at 1.35am.

Bayley’s prior history discussed at sentencing and pre-sentencing

The judge said Bayley had spent 11 years in jail for rapes and sex-related assaults. In 1990, the judge said Bayley raped a young woman while his first wife was pregnant, attacked a girl, 17, near a bus stop, and raped a 16-year-old hitchhiker. The judge said Bayley raped five prostitutes between September 2000 and March 2001, and that he was charged over those rapes while his second partner was pregnant. The judge said Bayley was paroled on March 17, 2010 after serving his minimum term. At a pre-sentencing hearing, it was stated that the 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. In February 2012, the Parole Board did not revoke his parole when he pleaded guilty to punching a man unconscious outside a Geelong cafe; he pleaded guilty to the assault and a three-month jail sentence was determined.

Statements made by Bayley to police (verbatim excerpts)

“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?”
“Yeah it does.”
“She didn’t look happy.”
“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?”
“Yeah yeah.”
“She looked distraught.”
“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.”
“What happened to Jill?”
“They should have the death penalty for people like me.”
“I can’t tell you what’s gonna happen.”
“No well – that’s what I hope.”
“So you said she fobbed you off and you got angry. Tell me what happened then?”
“Oh I just got pissed off and I actually walked off and she followed. I actually walked in front of her and she followed.”
“Yep.”
“And it just got worse.”
“Tell me what happened.”
“(Starts to cry) … like a big sissy man.”
“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.”
“Not knowing.”
“Would you be willing to come with me and show me?”
“I’ll try. I’ll do my best man.”
“I appreciate that.”
“I’m not sure how to get there.”
“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.”
“Um how – how did she die?”
“(Starts to cry). I strangled her.”
“Sorry?”
“(Continues to cry). What have I done? What have I done man?”
“And where did that happen?”
“On Hope Street.”
“How did she come to get in the laneway?”
“we – we walked past it.”
“yeah”
“That far down Hope St.”
“I didn’t take her from the street, or – you know?”
“Yeah and then?”
“And we were just talking you know? We weren’t – there was no argument, there was no – it was just talking. And then um …”
“Alright.”
“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.”
“Right”
“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?”
“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.”
“Um how did you – how did you strangle her?”
“With my hands.”
“With your hands. And once that had happened, what did you do?”
“(interview interrupted by knock at door, then resumes)”
“I didn’t run.”
“You didn’t run?”
“(starts to cry) That’s not it man. I actually apologised.”
“To her?”
“But I didn’t run. I didn’t – didn’t know what to do. It’s a horrible feeling man.”
“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.”
“And what happened to her belongings?”
“The phone I smashed. Just the other stuff I threw.”
“You walk to the side, you get the shovel. Tell me what you do.”
“I cried man, and I dug a hole.”
“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.”

“I strangled her.”
“What have I done?”
“I actually apologised. But I didn’t run. I didn’t – didn’t know what to do.”

Quotes from others (verbatim excerpts)

“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.”
“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.
“You became outraged that she should dare repel your advances in that fashion,” Justice Nettle 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.”
“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.
“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.
“(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.”

Social media and memorials

A Facebook group titled “Help us Find Jill Meagher” was set up and received over 100,000 likes by 27 September. A public march was organised with a crowd of 30,000 walking down Sydney Road in memory of Meagher on 30 September. 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; Melton City Council later removed the memorial “with the permission of the family and in consideration of the Black Hill Road community”. A street art memorial called “RIP Jill” was created in Hosier Lane, Melbourne in September 2012; in early November 2012 the 20 metre mural was painted almost completely over by other street artists.