The Mayor of Drogheda Paul Bell has issued a statement in support of the family of murdered Drogheda native Jill Meagher.

Adrian Ernest-Bayley has pleaded guilty to raping and murdering the 29-year-old in Melbourne last year and will be sentenced next Wednesday.

It has emerged he was on parole for other rapes when he raped and murdered Mrs. Meagher.

A plea hearing this morning has heard Bayley has twice been jailed for rape and was still on parole when he raped and killed the journalist in Melbourne on September 22nd last year.

The 29-year-old was his 9th rape victim. He had committed 22 rapes in all.

Details of his previous crimes emerged as Jill's husband Tom told the court he was haunted by visions of what had happened to her. Jill was attacked in an alley close to her home in a Melbourne suburb as she walked home after drinks with her work friends.

'Life of fear & anger'

Tom Meagher said his future had been taken away and replaced with a life of fear, insomnia and anger.

"What was stolen from me on the 22nd of September 2012 was love, my best friend and my entire world," Mr. Meagher said in his statement.

"I think of the waste of a brilliant mind and a beautiful soul. I am half a person because of this crime."

In a strongly-worded message, Drogheda Mayor Paul Bell spoke of the "shock and disgust" that the people of Drogheda felt about such a crime.

He has also called for justice for Jill saying that her family deserved closure, and that a person like Adrian Ernest-Bayley had no place in a civilised society.