Bayley was sentenced in 2002 to 11 years in prison with a minimum of eight for a series of rapes committed between September 2000 and March 2001 against prostitutes in the St Kilda area. By 2011 he was out of prison, but on parole until March 2013. A handcuffed Adrian Ernest Bayley arrives at court on Tuesday morning. Credit:Jason South Bayley appeared in Geelong Magistrates Court in February last year and pleaded guilty to king-hitting a 20-year-old man, breaking his jaw and leaving him unconscious. Prosecutor, Leading Senior Constable David Vanderpol, said the victim was eating outside a cafe about 1.30am when Bayley started abusing him and punched him in the face. "The power of the blow lifted the victim off the ground and knocked him unconscious to the ground, striking his head as he fell," Senior Constable Vanderpol said.

Bayley was convicted and sentenced to three months in prison, but then appealed against the sentence. Because he was appealing, he was released from custody on the basis that by the time the appeal was heard, he might already have served the three months to which he was initially sentenced. However, it is not clear why the Parole Board did not breach him despite his long history of violent sexual offending. It meant he was free to rape and murder Ms Meagher in September. The police also notified the Parole Board when Bayley was arrested for the assault, after doing a routine check on the parole status of people arrested. Under new laws introduced this year, serious offenders convicted of further serious crimes while on parole will have their parole cancelled automatically. There will also be a presumption that offenders will have their parole cancelled when they are charged with a new offence.

It has also emerged that police were forced to move early to arrest Bayley after his parole officer inadvertently tipped him off that he was wanted for questioning. Police asked the Parole Board to schedule a meeting with Bayley — who they already suspected of Ms Meagher's murder — but to describe it as routine so as not to alarm him. They intended using the meeting to sow seeds of suspicion in Bayley's mind, in the hope that he would return to the place where he buried Ms Meagher, thereby leading them to her body. Loading However, when the parole officer contacted Bayley, he or she said the police needed to meet him urgently, thereby unwittingly tipping him off that he was under scrutiny from the homicide squad.

Police heard the conversation because they were tapping Bayley's phone, and had to move on the suspect early. However, when they raided Bayley's house, they found Ms Meagher's mobile phone SIM card, which formed a central plank in the case against Bayley.