A 41-year-old man has pleaded guilty to the murder of Irish woman Jill Meagher in Melbourne last September. Adrian Earnest-Bayley has also pleaded guilty to one count of the rape of the Drogheda journalist.

At a hearing in the Supreme Court this morning he was remanded in custody for a plea hearing on June 11th. For legal reasons the details of the case cannot be reported.

The family of Jill Meagher were not in court for appearance this morning.

Wide-spread social media campaign

Her disappearance sparked a wide-spread social media campaign and made international headlines when she vanished from a busy Sydney road after a night out with friends on September 21st.

CCTV images released show her attempt to make the 5-minute walk home before her chance meeting with Mr. Bayley outside a dress shop.

Just 8 minutes after she left a bar in Brunswick she was killed. At the same time her husband Tom sent her a text message asking if she was OK.

By 5am Mr. Meagher was out searching the streets for her after numerous calls to her phone went unanswered.

James Bennet is reporter with ABC News Melbourne and was in court today.

He told Breakfast here on Newstalk that the defence will use the guilty plea to negotiate a more lenient jail term for Bayley.