Adrian Ernest Bayley

Convictions

Adrian Ernest Bayley, a serial rapist, was found guilty of raping St Kilda prostitutes over a seven-month period. The court was told Bayley, a father of four, had raped six prostitutes between September 2000 and March 2001 to satisfy ``a gross sexual appetite``. He travelled from his North Dandenong home to solicit prostitutes in the St Kilda area before brutally raping them. The court heard Bayley had faked his way through a sex offenders` program in the 1990s to get early release from prison. Bayley had been released in 1993 after spending 22 months of a maximum five-year prison sentence, but admitted his sexual urges had returned.

Bayley, who is accused of murdering and raping Jill Meagher in 2012 has been charged with two new offences.

Sex crimes squad detectives charged Mr Bayley, 41, with the alleged rape and false imprisonments of the women in separate attacks on April 5 in Elwood and July 15, 2012, in Balaclava, both Melbourne suburbs.

It is the third unsolved rape case Mr Bayley has been accused of since the alleged rape and murder of Jill Meagher.

It is understood the charge relating to the alleged attack on July 15 involves a 27-year-old Dutch backpacker, who claims she was sexually assaulted in a lane off Westbury St, Balaclava, after which a photo was released by Victoria Police.

The woman, who spoke to the media in August 2012, was walking home along Carlisle St between 2.30am and 3.30am from St Kilda pub the Elephant & Wheelbarrow when a man allegedly approached and told her she was being followed by a black car and persuaded her to get in his car.

She claims the man, who drove a red car, took her about 500m before pulling into a dark laneway off Westbury St and locked the doors.

After the alleged attack the woman convinced him ''it was OK'' and that she would not report him to police in a bid to escape with her life.

A Victoria Police statement said: ''Sexual Crime Squad detectives have charged a 41-year-old man with two sexual assaults in the St Kilda area last year.''

''The man has been charged with rape, false imprisonment and intentionally cause injury relating to an alleged incident on April 5, 2012, in Elwood.

''He has also been charged with rape and false imprisonment relating to another alleged assault in Balaclava on July 15, 2012.''

On February 1 2013, Mr Bayley was charged with another rape that allegedly occurred in St Kilda in November, 2000.

At his sentencing, Adrian Ernest Bayley, stood 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 of Jill Meagher in September 2012.

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.

"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."

Comments

Adrian Ernest Bayley, 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.

Bayley was also allowed to continue parole despite being convicted of assault. He 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 at his pre-sentencing hearing.

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 in 2012, 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 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, 2012.

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'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."