Convicted murderer and rapist Adrian Bayley. The convictions related to attacks on a sex worker in 2000, another sex worker in April 2012 and a Dutch backpacker in July 2012. He attacked Ms Meagher in September 2012, while the Irish-born ABC staffer was walking home from post-work drinks. Bayley appealed against the convictions in the first and third rape trials, and the sentences in all three trials. By acquitting him of three counts of rape, two counts of common assault and single charges of false imprisonment and making a threat to kill from the first trial, the Court of Appeal reduced Bayley's non-parole period from 43 years to 40.

Jill Meagher was raped and murdered by Adrian Bayley in September 2012. Credit:ABC That means Bayley, who turns 45 on Thursday, will be 83 when eligible for parole in 2055. Bayley was not in court on Wednesday. Adrian Bayley will be 83 when eligible for parole in 2055. Credit:Jason South The first trial, before County Court judge Sue Pullen, was told the sex worker, then 18, was asked by a man if she wanted to make some money, and after saying yes, got into his red Mini Minor in St Kilda some time between October 31 and December 1, 2000.

The jury heard the man punched the woman to the side of the head, drove to an alleyway and raped her. She did not contact police at the time because she feared she wouldn't be believed. In 2012, after Ms Meagher's death, the woman saw Bayley's image online and recognised him as her attacker. "I always thought I'd find him one day and that's him 100 per cent," she later told the jury. "As soon as I seen his face it brought it all back. I still have nightmares. You never forget the face of someone who gave you so much terror. You remember that forever."

Defence counsel Saul Holt, QC, told that jury the woman had misidentified his client from one photo seen 12 years later, and that she had made an understandable mistake given Bayley's notoriety. The jury also heard the woman's description of the Mini did not match the recollection of the car held by Bayley's then girlfriend. On Wednesday, Court of Appeal Justices Marilyn Warren, Mark Weinberg and Phillip Priest found Judge Pullen erred in allowing the complainant's identification evidence to be heard by the jury, as any "probative value" was outweighed by unfair prejudice. The woman knew when she saw the photo that Bayley had been charged with raping and murdering Ms Meagher. Without the identification evidence, the appeal judges found it would not have been possible for the jury to find Bayley guilty of raping the woman, and he was acquitted.

Bayley also appealed against convictions on rape, assault and false imprisonment charges over the attack on the backpacker. Mr Holt argued his client's phone records should not have been put to the jury because they were irrelevant. But the appeals judges found they were "clearly relevant" and showed the accused had the opportunity to attack the backpacker. That appeal was dismissed. In dismissing Mr Holt's argument that the total jail term was excessive, the appeals judges found that, if anything, Judge Pullen's sentences were moderate.

"[Bayley's] offending was utterly abhorrent," they said in re-sentencing. "It was not, however, atypical so far as he was concerned. Over many years, the applicant has shown a depraved predilection to attack, degrade and humiliate women. "As his criminal history amply demonstrates, his base inclinations have not, in the past, been curbed by substantial periods of imprisonment." There was "little doubt" Bayley remained a serious danger to women, the judges said. Bayley has rape convictions from 1990 and was on parole when he murdered Ms Meagher, having been jailed in 2001 for raping five women.

Coroner Ian Gray this year found Bayley should not have been on parole in 2012 and that Ms Meagher's murder was "preventable". In 2013 Supreme Court Justice Geoffrey Nettle said he would have jailed Bayley for the rest of his life had he not pleaded guilty to attacking Ms Meagher. Bayley later appealed against Justice Nettle's sentence, but that was dismissed. Victoria Legal Aid declined to fund Bayley's appeals on the rape trials, a decision the Court of Appeal said was "regrettable". Loading

The court acknowledged Mr Holt and colleagues for working pro bono. with Mark Russell