Jill Meagher

On September 22, 2012, twenty-nine-year-old Jill Meagher, an Irish-born journalist working for ABC Radio in Melbourne, was walking home from a bar on Sydney Road in Brunswick, an inner suburb of Melbourne. CCTV footage captured a brief conversation between Jill and a man on the street at approximately 1:38 a.m. She was never seen alive again.

When Jill failed to arrive at work the following day, her husband Tom reported her missing. The case generated enormous public response, with a 'Peace March' along Sydney Road attracting over 30,000 people. The CCTV footage was crucial—it showed Adrian Ernest Bayley approaching Jill.

Bayley, a serial rapist who was on parole at the time, was arrested on September 27. He had raped and strangled Jill and buried her body in a shallow grave near Gisborne, northwest of Melbourne. He led police to her remains.

Bayley pleaded guilty to rape and murder and was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum of 35 years. The case prompted a major review of Victoria's parole system, as it emerged that Bayley had been released on parole despite a long history of violent sexual offenses. The resulting reforms significantly tightened parole conditions for violent offenders.