The only identifying feature left of 32-year-old Brendan Bernard was a shabby, but distinctive tattoo of a devil holding a spray can.

It was found on a forearm that had floated to the surface of the Maribyrnong River in January 2015, the grim discovery made by someone walking along a popular waterside track in the city's north-west.

Brendan Bernard, whose severed forearm was found in the Maribyrnong River on February 5, 2015.

More parts were found as weeks went by, but it was this tattoo that unlocked his identity for homicide detectives after his family recognised the little red figure on the news.

In the Supreme Court in Melbourne on Friday, three men were handed substantial sentences for the chilling and callous murder and dismemberment of Mr Bernard, which began over, as Justice Christopher Beale said, a "meagre debt of $60".