‘We’re devastated’

The discovery of Jill Meagher’s body buried in a shallow grave beside a dirt road 50km from her Melbourne home finally ended the slim hope clung to by her family both here and in Australia that she might still be alive.

Overnight the 41-year-old man who led officers to that remote grave was due to appear in Melbourne Magistrate’s Court accused of dumping the 29-year-old Irish woman’s body after raping and murdering her last Saturday morning.

Police descended on Adrian Ernest Bayley’s home at 2.30pm Australian time yesterday. They believed they had sufficient evidence to be sure that he was the man captured on CCTV footage talking to the Drogheda native on a Melbourne city street just metres from her home in the last known sighting of her alive.

At first he refused to co-operate during police questioning. After several hours he relented and led officers to her body in the shallow grave at 1.45am.

Her killer had worked hard to cover his tracks. She had been dumped between two tall trees in a remote rural area, a full 40 minutes’ drive from where she was last seen alive.

Local reports said the nearest homes were 1km away.

After the scene underwent an initial forensic examination, her body was removed from the grave at 4am to be brought for an autopsy to determine exactly what happened to her and how she had died.

Meanwhile, Bayley had appeared before an “out-of-sessions” court to be remanded under initial charges of rape and murder at a Melbourne police station.

According to The Age news site, Bayley was brought to the hearing wearing a navy blue shirt and jeans, and had his left hand clasped over his face throughout.

When asked if he understood the charges he replied “yes” in a faint voice.

According to James Bennett, a reporter who was at the police station and who worked with Ms Meagher at ABC, Bayley is “a short, well-built man with close cropped blond hair... with a tattoo around his left bicep”.

Ms Meagher’s devastated husband Tom has been comforted by Australian-based relatives since Bayley was arrested and his wife’s body was subsequently discovered.

Here in Ireland, her relatives issued a statement describing the heartbreak.

Her uncle Michael McKeon said: “We are devastated. We are heartbroken. She was the first grandchild my mother had, and her aunts, uncles, and cousins are powerless to describe their loss.

“There are no words to describe how we feel at what has happened. We had hope yesterday when there was no evidence of foul play but when the man in the CCTV footage was arrested we feared the worst.”

Within minutes of confirmation that Ms Meagher’s body had been found, the Facebook page which had been set up to help find her was turned into a location for people from Ireland, Australia, and across the world to express their horror and sympathy.

A Facebook page believed to belong to Bayley was taken down after his arrest.

Last night Ms Meagher’s colleagues at ABC issued a statement describing her as a much loved member of the station’s family and “an innocent victim, a young and vibrant woman with her whole life in front of her”.

Cath Hurley, ABC Victoria: "Jill was just a positive life force, she lit up a room.. she was the glue that held us together" #faine

— ABC Melbourne (@abcmelbourne) September 27, 2012