By Nino Bucci and Rania Spooner
- Adrian Bayley trials: full coverage
- Secret trials: Adrian Bayley a serial rapist
- John Silvester: Adrian Bayley's reign of terror
Adrian Bayley committed horrendous crimes time and time again as Victoria's justice system failed to protect women from the serial rapist turned murderer. This is where the system failed on eight separate occasions:
Released on parole
Bayley had served three years of a five-year sentence when he was released on parole in 1993. He had been jailed for entrapping and raping a 16-year-old girl, threatening to kill and attempting to rape a 17-year-old, and attempting to rape another 16-year-old he'd abducted. Bayley later admitted he had "gone through the motions" of rehabilitation to secure early release.
Sex workers did not trust police to investigate rapes
Adrian Bayley will be 83 when eligible for parole in 2055.Credit: Jason South
In 2000, the rape squad fail to properly investigate escalating violent sexual assaults on sex workers in the St Kilda area. Bayley was charged in 2001 after a dogged investigation by local detectives. Ten other sex workers who had been raped identified Bayley as their attacker, but did not trust police enough to give evidence against him in court.
Not sentenced as a serious sexual offender
In 2002, Bayley is sentenced to 11 years with a minimum of eight years for 16 counts of rape committed against five sex workers. Bayley not sentenced as a serious sexual offender, which would have permitted a longer sentence, despite his criminal history.
Police again fail to register Bayley as a sex offender
Adrian Ernest Bayley has now been found guilty of more than 20 rape offences.
Police do not make an application for Bayley to be listed on the Sex Offender Register when it comes into law in 2004, despite making similar applications for paedophiles.
Parole board releases serial rapist
Bayley is granted parole by the Adult Parole Board on March 17, 2010. Despite more than a decade of predatory sexual offending, the serial rapist is released into the community after serving eight years of his 11-year sentence for raping and brutalising five sex workers. The Board does not tell Bayley's victims, or the police involved, that he has been granted parole.
Parole not cancelled after Geelong assault
While on parole in August, 2011, Bayley bashes a 20-year-old man during a night out in Geelong, leaving him unconscious and with a broken jaw. His parole is not cancelled when he is charged, despite Corrections Victoria informing the Adult Parole Board. It would be the first of four crimes he would commit while on parole..
Bayley left free to stalk the streets after being granted bail
On February 27, 2012, Bayley pleads guilty to the Geelong assault. He is sentenced to three months prison, but immediately appeals the sentence and is released on bail. The Adult Parole Board admits his parole should have been cancelled, but neither Corrections Victoria nor Victoria Police asked the board to do so. Police did not oppose Bayley's bail.
Bayley not a suspect in backpacker rape
Bayley is not investigated for the rape of a Dutch backpacker in July 2012, in the same area Bayley raped sex workers, despite the backpacker providing a face-fit of the suspect strongly resembling Bayley. Jill Meagher is raped and murdered two months later. On March 26, 2015, Bayley is found guilty of raping the backpacker.