The Australian serial sex offender who murdered Co Louth woman Jill Meagher is seeking to have his prison term reduced.
Father-of-four Adrian Ernest Bayley (43) was jailed for a minimum of 35 years in June 2013 after he pleaded guilty to the rape and murder of the 29-year-old Drogheda native as she made her way home in Melbourne after socialising with ABC radio colleagues in September 2012.
Bayley had his minimum jail term extended to 43 years last May after being convicted of three further rapes. The charges related to the violent rape of a sex worker in 2000 as well as similar attacks in 2012 on another sex worker and a Dutch backpacker, who was targeted as she walked home after a night out.
Within a month of his conviction, the serial offender applied to the Victoria Legal Aid to fund an appeal but his request was refused.
Bayley has now launched a Supreme Court challenge to the refusal, claiming that it was unreasonable and that it was a breach of his human rights.
Senior politicians have defended Legal Aid's decision, with Victoria's Premier Daniel Andrews saying it was "exactly the right call".
"I support them in defending the judgement that they've made to deny Adrian Bayley any public resources at all," Mr Andrews told ABC News.
Pipeworker Bayley, who is known to have raped 10 women since his late teens, previously failed to have his sentence for Ms Meagher's rape and murder reduced.
