Adrian Bayley and Steven Hunter bash each other in jailhouse brawl

One of Victoria’s most loathed killers was rushed to hospital after trading blows with another reviled criminal in a vicious jailhouse brawl, despite both being housed in a protection unit separate from the general jail population.

Loathed killers Adrian Ernest Bayley and Steven James Hunter have brawled viciously in jail.

Loathed killers Adrian Ernest Bayley and Steven James Hunter have brawled viciously in jail.

Bayley, the murderer of Jill Meagher, and Hunter, caged for the slaying of Sarah Cafferkey, punched on for more than three minutes at a protection unit in Barwon Prison.

The Herald Sun understands Bayley, 47, had the better of last Friday’s bloody battle of the jailbirds.

Hunter, who is seven years older than his foe, was treated in hospital for a head injury but has since returned to the maximum-security prison near Geelong.

It is not known what prompted the blows between two men who are more readily associated with violence against women.

Hunter was treated in hospital for a head injury

A Corrections Victoria spokesman said police had been advised of the fracas.

“Corrections Victoria takes all assaults very seriously, and refers all allegations of criminal activity to Victoria Police for investigation,” the spokesman said.

Other inmates in the prison unit occupied by the pair include fellow depraved killers John Sharpe, Ashley Coulston and Les Camilleri.

Hunter and Bayley are kept separate from the general jail population because their safety is at risk from other inmates.

As a violent sex offender, Bayley is particularly vulnerable to attack in mainstream areas of the jail.

Many inmates would have been sickened by Bayley’s September 2012 murder of Ms Meagher, which he committed while he was on parole for serious sex offences.

And public revulsion also led to greater restrictions on parole, which has resulted in some inmates serving months or even years more than they would have otherwise.

As a violent sex offender Bayley is particularly vulnerable to attack in mainstream areas of the jail.

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If Bayley were put in mainstream areas of the prison “he’d be dead in a few minutes,” one former inmate said.

Hunter is serving life with no prospect of parole for the fatal bashing and stabbing of Ms Cafferkey at Bacchus Marsh in 2012.

Her body was found nine days later in a wheelie bin at a Point Cook home.

In 1986, Hunter murdered schoolgirl Jacqueline Matthews, for which he was sentenced to 16 years’ jail with a non-parole term of 13 years.

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