Facebook shuts pages on Jill’s killer

A number of Facebook pages targeting the man accused of killing Jill Meagher in Melbourne last month have finally been removed.

There had been fears that the pages, which gave details about Adrian Bayley’s background and also incited hate against him, could prejudice a fair trial against him. He is accused of the rape and murder of the 29-year-old Drogheda woman.

He is due to appear in court again on Jan 18.

As soon as his name emerged as the suspect in the case, people took to the internet to find and post details about his past.

This led to numerous calls for the pages, one of which had received 44,000 likes, to be closed down by Facebook.

“A number of sites have been taken down on our request, and we thank Facebook for that,” a police spokeswoman told the Australian Associated Press.

In the aftermath of Bayley’s arrest, a senior Melbourne police chief had joined with Jill Meagher’s grieving husband Tom to call for people not to post anything on social media sites which might prejudice the 41-year-old’s trial.

However, the pages giving potentially damaging details about the accused continued to appear on the Facebook pages. In fact a few such pages still remain though they have been accessed far less frequently than those removed by the social networking site.

Jill Meagher, an ABC news employee, went missing in the early hours of Sept 22 after a night out drinking with friends.

The breakthrough in the search for her came five days later when police released CCTV footage of her talking to a man outside a bridal boutique.

After Adrian Bayley was arrested, he led detectives to her body which had been buried in a shallow grave 50km from where she had gone missing.

She will be laid to rest at a private service in Melbourne for immediate family and friends tomorrow.

There will also be a Mass to celebrate her life in Drogheda.