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

VICTORIAN Deputy Premier Peter Ryan has echoed Jill Meagher's father saying justice has been done with Adrian Bayley's life sentence.

Edith McKeon and Tom Meagher

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.

Adrian Bayley

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

Bayley's shocking past

Why was he free to kill?

Victim impact statements from the family

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.

Meagher family

"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.

Edith McKeon and Tom Meagher

"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.

Jill Meagher

Jill's relatives tell of emotional wait

Authorities warned about Jill killer

Inside Bayley's police interview

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."

Jill's life in pictures